A matter of the the heart
by luvtoshi
Summary: Despite his feelings for Rukia, Ichigo had never dared to take the step that cross the status of friendship to love. But then, an upcoming event forces Ichigo to reconsider his stance. Hint of Karin / Toushiro
1. Chapter 1

**I've been inspired by the movie "Made of Honor' for this story.**

**I do not own Bleach.**

**Prologue**

The story is set post time skip.

It's been 7 years since the war and the defeat of Aizen. Kurosaki Ichigo, 22 years old, was still a Substitute Shinigami in his hometown, Karakura, and was much respected in Soul Society due to the major role he played in that war.

The Shinigami people still had a lot to do in Karakura town; hollows, ranging from the normal low strength ones to as powered as Achudas, still appeared frequently due to the high soul frequency of the town. Thus, Yamamoto Genryuusai, the captain commander, had to arrange for a 3 months shift system for Shinigami from Soul Society to stay in Karakura, so that there was always a Shinigami on patrol duty in the town, in addition of Ichigo being the Substitute Shinigami.

**XOXOXO**

Chapter 1

Kurosaki Karin, 17 years old, was looking at the now empty screen of the emergency line that video-linked Soul Society with Karakura town. Her mouth was gaping from the news she had just received, her brain hazily assimilating what she had just been told. She looked over at the man standing next to her, Kisuke Urahara, as if seeking confirmation whether she had heard correctly. The man's upper face were hidden by the brim of his hat, so she could not read his eyes, but she judged that he was surprised as well, seeing him snapping his fan open to hover it around his mouth, quirk he usually has when he was disturbed.

"Yare yare…Now, that's some interesting news," he drawled.

'Interesting' was not how Karin would describe the news. Jinta, Ururu and Tessai, the other residents of the Urahara shop, who had also been convoked for this call, seemed to find the news 'interesting' as well, though, all three of them bearing smiles on their faces.

Karin had been in the basement training grounds found under the shop, sparing with Urahara, her shishou for the past seven years, when Tessai had appeared and announced that Kuchiki Rukia was on a call from Soul Society to talk to all of them. Rukia was currently off-shift from her Shinigami duties of Karakura town, but she was supposed to start her 3 months shift during that week. It was quite unusual for Rukia to be calling, since to be able to arrange a communication via the emergency line, what with all the necessary higher levels' approval, was quite a feat in itself. So, Karin and Urahara had not wasted time to go in the communication room, found at the back of the shop, to take her call, hoping that everything was okay. Jinta and Ururu had already been in the room, where the blurred life size image of Rukia awaited them on the screen. Then, the next minutes, Karin had understood why Rukia had been granted the favor of using the communication line, when she had announced the news.

_Damn_, thought Karin. She was definitely not happy, as the other three were, about what she had been told. _Ichi-nii…._

**XOXOXO**

Kurosaki Ichigo was briskly walking out of the administration room of the faculty of Engineering of the University of Karakura, on that sunny Friday afternoon. He looked around, taking in the lovely structure of the buildings of the university, where he had been studying Civil and Building Engineering for the past 4 years.

_I'll miss it here, _he thought.

He had come to collect the 2 invites for his graduation ceremony, which was to be held in 3 weeks. Yes. The fruit of 4 years of faithful studying and hard work was there – since a week, Ichigo was officially a graduate in Bachelor of Engineering with Honors in the Civil and Building Engineering. His final year results came in a week ago, and he had done really well. His studies were completed; he was no more a student now.

Things were looking good in the career area too, since he already had some promising interviews lined up during the coming weeks; though he was still undecided about what he would do, not sure of how he would juggle his hectic Shinigami life with a full time career. He certainly was not going to give up his Shinigami duty. He had taken a too big liking to that part of his life. He cannot imagine not being a Shinigami anymore, it was in his blood, literally. But he would have to start with his career soon, he could not delay that for too long.

_Oh well, I'll see how things proceed,_ he thought. For the immediate time, he just wanted to enjoy the feeling of being finally free from any studies.

As he walked through the campus towards the gates, he was stopped by some of his class fellows, who, same as he, had come for their invites and some last minutes administrative things. They chit-chatted a little, then, taking his leave, he continued his way, waving at some other people who knew him.

With his shocking spiky carrot colored hair, Ichigo could never go unnoticed, even here at the university. His appearance had undergone some noticeable change since his teens: he had grown a few inches taller, his face had gotten more angular, his body more muscular, and his hazel eyes showing an inner strength and maturity beyond his 22 years. He always drew attention from both males, who could sense the subtle power emanating from this young man and making them keep a respectful distance, and females, who gushed at his physique, his handsome features and the mysterious aura surrounding him. But Ichigo was oblivious to all this, his ever aloof air and his trademark scowl made it that people usually were quite wary of approaching him.

He pocketed the envelope containing the invitations in his jeans, thinking ahead about the graduation ceremony. Each graduating student had been allowed 2 invitees. As already agreed, his Dad and Rukia would be attending. Karin and Yuzu had not minded that it was Rukia who would attend, as Rukia was very dear to all the Kurosakis, and anyway it would have been difficult to choose one between his twin sisters. The time frame was correct as well, since the black haired, indigo eyed petite Shinigami was supposed to be in Karakura town any day now, for her 3 months shift of town patrol.

_Kuchiki Rukia…His best friend._ He had yet to tell her about the ceremony, as they have not seen each other for the last 3 months, since her last patrol shift. He was already foreseeing her excitement to attend another human event, seeing how eager she still was to learn about anything concerning the real world. Contrary to how it had been 7 years ago, when she had attended high school to be able to blend with the human life, Rukia did not attend university during her stay in real life. Instead, depending on what her duties had allowed, she had sometimes acted as help nurse to Ishiin in their private clinic, sometimes helping out with Karin's training at Urahara. For one term she even re-attended high school with Karin and Yuzu (she could still pass for some high school student, though a bit more senior this time).

He looked up at the blue sky, smirking as he thought about her, and almost expecting that midget to appear out from nowhere, as she had done many times. The seven and odd years they have known each other her have brought them very close. Close, but still bickering and arguing as ferociously as ever, his poor shins often being in the receiving end of her fury; but words could not be enough to describe their bond.

His buddy.

_Though it's been since a long time now you've yearned for something more_, _much much more_, a small part of him whispered in his mind.

As usual, he pushed that thought away. He did not know when exactly his feelings of friendship had turned into something more. He could not pinpoint when those buddy-buddy feelings had turned into love, but it had. Kurosaki Ichigo had been harboring a secret love for his best friend, Kuchiki Rukia, since quite long now. But whatever he felt for her must be kept for him alone, was his stance. He always told himself that he would NEVER do anything that would endanger his friendship with Rukia. Their bond was much too precious to him to risk jeopardizing it with something as _dangerous_ as a wrong move on his side to profess his love, since she had never shown the remotest hint that she was interested in him romantically. A good friendship can last for ever, but an unrequited love between two friends, if confessed, could destroy a good friendship by creating awkwardness, was _his_ strong belief. And he did not want to risk that, ever. He was be happy with what they shared. He was lucky to see her quite often, what with her coming over for three months for town patrolling quite often, and him going to soul society from time to time for missions. _Beggars can't be choosers,_ he thought, so he appreciated whatever closeness he had with her.

But he had to admit that it was getting more and more difficult with time. There was a sort of restlessness taking over him, an ache for something more, the dissatisfaction for what he had, and the anticipation for something not quite there. He missed her so much when she was away, back in soul society. It was very hard each time when she has to leave after a shift, and it was getting even harder with time. Life had a different meaning when she was in Karakura. He felt stronger, more _alive_ when she was around.

He sighed, pushing away his thoughts and a scowl setting in his face. He felt he was about to explode from his hidden feelings some time soon. _Why did things have to be so complicated?_ Sometimes, he thought that dealing with Aizen had been easier than dealing with his feelings for Rukia.

He looked at his watch, and seeing that it was already 5 in the afternoon, decided it was useless to go to Urahara's place for his training with Karin. As it was the summer holidays, Ichigo had been helping Karin in her training on Fridays. But seeing the late time, he thought she must have finished by now. He decided to go home, since he did not have anything else planned. He set on his way to the tube station, enjoying the warm sun on his tanned arms, bared by the white short sleeved shirt he was wearing.

Home was still the Kurosaki residence. With his hectic schedule of university and shinigami duties, it had impossible for him to maintain part time jobs for long, so he had not been able to have a proper stable income to afford a place of his own. It had made more sense for him to continue living with his family, thus avoiding the financial and practical issues that having a separate apartment would have brought about. Furthermore, living there had its silver lining, he was guaranteed warm meals and a loving home to get back to he was done destroying hollows at the odd hours, and putting his life in the front life as often as he did. Furthermore, since there had never been a long term girlfriend yet in the picture, there had been no issue in that area.

His short story with Kyoko, one of his university classmates, 2 years ago, barely lasted long enough for him to introduce her to his family, let alone warranting the need for privacy of a place of his own. The story had started with a party, where Kyoko had shown her interest in Ichigo, and by the end of the party, the sultry atmosphere helping, they had kissed and made out. Ichigo had asked her out the next day because he wanted to give himself a chance in a relationship to get his mind off his un-admitted love for Rukia. But his double life, his constant un-availability, and his abrupt unexplained departures from several of their dates due to Shinigami duty calls, had put an abrupt end to that story.

Breaking up had not been hard, since anyway neither of them had been in love with each other. In a way, it has been a big relief for Ichigo, because the short time the relation lasted had made him realize that for him, no girl would match up to Rukia. None of his close friends had even known about that short story, let alone Rukia.

Getting in the tube, he sat down for the 20 minutes ride to home, his thoughts got back to Rukia. He frowned, thinking that the little midget was supposed to have reported in since last week. It was the first time that she had been this late for a shift. He hoped that everything was alright with her.

His mobile rang, snapping him out of his thoughts. He saw Karin's name blinking on the screen.

"Hi Karin," he said, after having flipped the phone open to accept the call.

"Hey Ichi-nii!" came back Karin's voice. "Are you coming over to Urahara's place?"

"I thought you would have finished by now?" he asked.

"Yeah, we are done, but could you still come over, please? Something cropped up," she replied back.

"Any issue?" Ichigo immediately pounced.

'Err...,' slight hesitation on Karin's part, "No, Ichi-nii, nothing top urgent, but do come over. Okay? We'll talk then. See you! Bye!" She hung up before Ichigo could say any more words.

_What's with her?_ thought Ichigo. She sounded …strange. But she did say it was nothing to worry about, so he had no choice anyway but to wait to meet her to know what was up.

**XOXOXO**

Alighting from the tube station some minutes later, he made his way to Urahara's shop. He wondered about what it could be that Karin needed to tell him that she could not say over the phone, or wait until later when they would both be at home in the evening. She and Yuzu were in the final year at Karakura high, and were currently during their summer holidays. The three siblings were still as close as ever, and with the years their rapport had only strengthened. Yuzu were now aware about the Shinigami life, though unlike Karin, her reiatsu level was very low. Karin, on the other hand, had finally become a Shinigami, like him, since 3 months now.

Ichigo knew that this was bound to happen sometimes, as Karin had been a walking bait to hollows since her 11 years, with her high reiatsu level. As she grew up, her reiatsu level had grown dramatically as well, attracting even more hollows towards her. But it had taken so long for her to become a Shinigami because both Ichigo and their dad, Ishiin, had been adamantly against the idea of converting Karin to a Shinigami by the method that Urahara used for Ichigo, with the high risk of hollowfication it carried. They had not want Karin to run the slightest risk of becoming a Vizard, like Ichigo.

So, instead, for the past 7 years, Urahara and Yoruichi had train Karin in close combat techniques and Kidou arts, which Karin had become quite good at. But, being human and not being the wielder of a zampactu, the limits have been tight. Then, 3 months ago, she had been attacked by a powerful Hollow Grande, where her Kidou and hand combat techniques had not been enough. Ichigo nearly did not make it to her on time. That near death incident forced both him and Ishiin to accept that it was best for her to be turned into a Shinigami, so that she would be geared to defend herself if attacked and never be in that life-death situation again.

The good thing was that by that time, Urahara had improved the Shinigami conversion technique, which drastically reduced the risk of hollowfication; though the process was not less easy to go through. She came through the task successfully, thus acquiring her Shinigami powers and her Zanpakutou. And in the weeks which followed, her growth had been spectacular, not unlike Ichigo. She had shortly learnt her Zanpakutou's name, thus going into shikai mode. Ichigo would not be surprised if she would soon manage to go to Bankai stage. 

_They were Kurosakis, after all,_ he thought, ruefully. Having abnormally high reiatsu level was the legacy they both had from their father, Ishiin.

He reached the little shop of Urahara. As he went in, he was met with the man himself, who was in a more cheerful mood than usual.

"Ohaiyo, Kurosaki san! Come in, come in!" urged Urahara, in his happy sing song voice, merrily fanning himself. "Just in time for our celebrating toast!" he chirped, pushing Ichigo towards a low table.

Ichigo looked over at Karin. She was already seated at the table, her black mid back length hair tied in the usual ponytail which she had adopted since she had decided to grow her hair, and her svelte petite body in her usual sports pants and tops. Her expression was hard to read.

Ichigo raised his brows up questioningly. "So…What is this about?" he asked, looking from Karin to Urahara. He did not get any reply.

Urahara was enthusiastically filling the glasses that Ururu has brought. "Grab a glass everybody!' he exclaimed. "Here, take this glass, Kurosaki san," pushing a filled glass in Ichigo's hand. Then, raising his glass to the air, in his most theatric bubbly voice, announced:

"A congratulation toast in the honor of our absent friend Rukia san! Rukia san is getting MARRIED!

Ichigo almost dropped his glass at the words. It took him some full seconds to recover, and then he looked incredulously at the cheering Urahara, wondering whether he heard correctly. "What did you say?" he spluttered.

"Kuchiki Rukia is getting married, Kurosaki san," repeated Urahara, studying the young man's face. "The wedding is to be at the end of this month, in less than three weeks. She called us about an hour ago to tell us. So, I thought we should celebrate this news appropriately! It's not everyday that close friends get married!"

_This must be a joke,_ thought Ichigo, dumbfounded. _Surely this must be a joke._ He darted his eyes to Karin, seeking confirmation about this being a dumb off time April's fool joke. But her silence and bleak eyes remove the delusion from him. Ichigo felt the blood draining from his face.

_Rukia?... Getting married?_ He thought dazedly.

Feeling Urahara's intense gaze still on him, he struggled to keep a normal expression on his face, not wanting the man to know how much this news had shocked him.

Taking his lack of speech as cue, Urahara rambled on, "We have all been invited to the wedding. Rukia-san sent her sincere apologies for not being able to come to invite us in person, she said she has so much to do in a too short time, and hope for our indulgence and understanding. The wedding is to be on the last Sunday of this month, which is in, er, lets see…16 days exactly from today!"

"She was expecting that you would be here as well when she called, Ichi-nii, as you usually train with me on Fridays at this time," Karin said in a toneless voice. "She said to make sure that you come to soul society for the wedding".

The words were all a blur to Ichigo, who was feeling more stunned by each minute. He slowly put his glass down on the table, in fear that his sudden numb fingers would not be able to hold it longer.

_Rukia. Getting married. End of this month,_ his brain repeated.

_With whom? Since when had she has someone in her life? How have I never known about it? _His thoughts were in a jumble in his head, trying to recall back over the past months and years. He never had the tiniest inkling that Rukia had someone in her life! And he thought they were best friends, so how come he had missed this? Or was it someone she had met during the last 3 months…But to marry at such short notice?

_Was it Renji? Has Renji managed to declare his feelings and proposed to Rukia?_ All the possibilities were racing in his mind. At the beginning, he had suspected that maybe Abarai Renji had some feelings for Rukia, but then the more he got to know Renji, the less unlikely that suspicion became, seeing how Renji treated Rukia more like a little sister than anything else.

But who knows? Maybe Renji had been like him, hiding his real feelings for Rukia? Who else could it be? _And he has not been a coward as you, he beat you to it and finally confessed his feelings to her,_ a sly voice echoed in his head.

He came out of his stupefied state hearing Urahara saying, "I'll have to inform Ishida-kun and Orihime-san. Rukia-san wants Ishida kun to make some dresses for her. Ah, and I also need to inform Sado-kun. Yare yare, she has entrusted me with the responsibility of inviting all these people."

"Who is it?" Ichigo managed to ask in a quasi normal voice, even though inside he was feeling anything but normal. "With whom is she getting married?"

"Her fiancé is Shotoku Haruko, heir of the Shotuku family, one of the four greatest noble family of soul society," replied Urahara. The words 'fiancé' sent a shockwave through Ichigo's mind.

"The marriage was arranged by the Kuchiki and Haruko elders, and, from what Rukia said, was finalized only last week," Urahara continued, then became thoughtful. "This union of the 2 great noble families will be a powerful alliance, securing both families political positions. This is quite a merger!"

Ichigo, though, was digesting the revelation. "_Arranged_ marriage?" he asked, suddenly snapped from his shock, "to one of the noble family? Then it MUST be that Byakuya forcing her!" he exclaimed with force, all pretence of indifference gone. "Only Byakuya will think of coercing Rukia in such a marriage!" he continued, getting angrier by each second, but at the same time a tiny relief creeping up him as he learnt that she had not had a hidden lover that he had not been aware about.

"No, Rukia has willingly and happily agreed to this marriage," said a feminine voice.

They all turned to see Shihoin Yoruichi coming in the room. The chocolate skinned beauty dropped her lithe body in a couch, scrutinizing Ichigo with the ever devilish eyes of hers. "I met her briefly this morning. She said that she made this decision willingly on her own, and is happy with this arrangement."

Ichigo felt as if he received a punch in his stomach, as his tiny spark of relief plummeted down. _Happy with this arrangement?_ He echoed in his head.

Yoruichi, not leaving her eyes from Ichigo, continued, "Well, this arranged marriage is not such a big surprise, anyway. Ever since she was adopted in the Kuchiki noble clan, her fate of getting an arranged marriage into another noble family was sort of sealed. It's most natural that the Kuchiki clan will look for another noble family to get Rukia married, to solidify their clan position and ensure a better political stake."

Ichigo remembered Kasumioji Rurichiyo, the princess of the Kasumioji noble clan, whom he and Rukia had helped and whose marriage had been arranged at a very young age. Rukia did explain to him the common practices of holding arranged marriages in the noble families. But he had never expected that Rukia would fall under this practice as well.

"Yoruichi-san, Rukia was adopted in that family, so surely it would have been different in her case?" he argued. "It's not as if she is a Kuchiki by birth. And don't forget that anyway, Byakuya had ignored Rukia most of her life as a Kuchiki, he never really cared for her for so long, so how can he now conveniently use her as a pawn to seal an alliance with another noble family?"

Yoruichi sighed, shaking her head.

"Ichigo, Byakuya is NOT putting a sword over Rukia's neck to force her to accept this marriage, contrary to what you'd like to believe. As a Kuchiki, Rukia is deserving of a marriage in a noble family, and by arranging such a good match for Rukia, Byakuya is in fact showing that he cares for her, that she is wholeheartedly accepted as a Kuchiki."

She paused, still looking intently at him. "In the noble circle, it is of utmost importance that you marry well. Byakuya is fulfilling his duty as a good brother and caretaker for Rukia, securing her position in the nobility; the opposite in fact would have been neglectful of him," she finished.

"That sounds so much as a caged life!" Karin whispered, disturbed by what she was hearing. The concept of arranged marriages for convenience reasons, in this era, was quite scary to her.

"Being of noble family in Soul Society is a world unlike anything you've ever known," Yoruichi told her, a hint of hardness in her voice. Being of one of the 4 greatest noble clan herself, she definitely knew about it.

A silence descended in the little room. Ichigo bowed his head, looking blankly at his tightly clenched fists on his lap, his glass untouched in front of him on the table. He felt as if his heart was being viciously squeezed. It was too much for him to take; he suddenly badly needed to get away from there, to process all this, alone. He felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning his head he saw that it was Karin, crouching beside him, her eyes warm with comfort.

"It's getting late, Ichi-nii. Let's go home," she said. "Yuzu will be waiting."

Gladly taking up the excuse, he stood up, mumbling his farewell to everybody, and both siblings set out to walk home.

**XOXOXO**

Walking side by side, brother and sister let the silence envelope them. Ichigo felt totally lost, deep in his own thoughts; his heart seemed to have sunk to his feet.

_Rukia…Rukia getting married._ He felt his stomach clench at the thought. He still had difficulty to believe it.

Karin looked sideways at him, walking slowly to match his dragging steps. She could see that the blow had been hard, just as she had expected. Though Ichigo had never admitted anything openly, the other Kurosakis knew that he had much more than mere friendship feelings for Rukia. The petite Shinigami had always stayed with the Kurosakis during her shift in the living world, so they all were very much aware about the interaction between Ichigo and her; they could clearly differentiate between the Ichigo with Rukia present and the Ichigo with Rukia absent. All of them, Karin, Yuzu and Ishiin, adored Rukia, and would have loved that she really became the 3rd daughter that Ishiin was always claiming, but they had made the decision not to interfere. It had been an agreement among them that they were never to pry into the relationship between the two.

Karin had always thought that that the time would come eventually when these 2 stubborn bakas would realize that they were made for each other…But now, she was feeling that maybe the family _should_ have interfered and pushed these two together.

She let out a loud sigh. Stifled feelings were really hellish, she thought. She was well placed to know, with her hidden crush for someone. For a certain white haired, teal colored eyes Shinigami captain. Her heart gave the usual flutter as she thought of Hitsugaya Toushiro. It was always him who had been chosen to come for missions in the living world whenever a captain was needed. The more times they've met and the older she grew, the more she had been attracted to the handsome, serious, sometimes short tempered and irritable, young genius Shinigami Captain. And finally, she could not hide it to herself: she was forced to admit that she had a major crush on the enigmatic boy. As things would have wanted it, he was totally oblivious to that fact. And she would _never_ dare admit her feelings to him.

_At least, he always takes the time to have a soccer match with me during each visit,_ she thought ruefully. She wished she had the slightest confidence or talent in the art of flirting, maybe that could have set something off. But being who she was, that would be same as wishing the sun would rise in the west, she thought gloomily.

Casting her own heart story aside, she pondered on the actual situation. In her eyes, if there had ever been a couple who had everything for them to succeed, it had been Ichigo and Rukia. _They are so meant to be for each other,_ she thought. It was inconceivable to think that now the two would probably not going to happen.

"What will you do, Ichi-nii?" she asked, breaking the silence finally.

Ichigo looked sideways at her, with dull eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Well, aren't you going to do anything about Rukia?" Karin persisted.

"Why should I do anything?" Ichigo replied dully. "We are just friends, if she is agreeable and happy with this arranged marriage, then I'm glad for her."

Karin abruptly stopped. "Ichi-nii…do you really take us to be that dumb? She is not _just_ a _friend_ for you! We are not blind, you know!"

Ichigo also stopped to look at her. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again. He really did not know what to think right now. His emotions were in chaos, and he could not formulate any thoughts properly. Wordlessly, he resumed his walk.

Karin felt bad for pushing him so, and ran up to catch with him. "Sorry, Ichi-nii," she said in a contrite voice.

"Nah, it's ok," he replied back, knowing that Karin was concerned for him. Falling back to silence, they continued towards home.

**XOXOX**

"We are home," called out Karin, as they got in the Kurosaki's residence.

"Hey Karin! Hey Onii-san!" Yuzu happily called out, coming out of the kitchen, donning her usual apron. Taller than Karin, Yuzu had definitely took after their mother's pretty looks, blond hair framing her lovely face and an easy smile lighting up her face. "Dinner will be ready in one hour!" she merrily chirped.

"Hey there," Ichigo greeted back, forcing out a normal voice.

Ishiin, who was sitting on the couch reading some papers, bounced up, getting ready for one of his happy knocking move on Ichigo.

"ICHIGOOOOO!" He gripped his son's neck at the same time tackling him towards the floor. Not getting the expected response, he peered in Ichigo's face and noticed the glum look. Karin's slight shake of head alerted him that something must have happened..

"Dad!" Yuzu admonished, not immediately noticing anything amiss from her brother. "Onii-san is a grown up, graduated engineer now, you should stop bugging him like that!"

"Uh, ok, good for dinner, Yuzu…I'll be up in my room," Ichigo mumbled, and he quickly made his way up the stairs before anyone would ask any questions, badly needing to be alone. He could feel the 3 pairs of eyes on his back while climbing the stairs, but he was incapable of holding his "I'm okay" act any further in front of them.

"What happened?" Yuzu asked, her eyes concerned.

Karin told them.

"Oh!" Yuzu gasped, "I always hoped…."

"Well we all always hoped that, didn't we?" Karin said unhappily, a frown on her face.

Ishiin was silent. He let out a big sigh, looking at the picture of his lovely wife.

Getting in his room, Ichigo was greeted by Kon. The mod soul stopped midway in his usual tirade of whining when met with a lack of response from Ichigo.

'What's up?" he asked the young man, sensing that something was wrong. The long years being with Ichigo had made Kon attuned to his mood, and right now Ichigo looked totally stumped.

"Not now, Kon, please…I would like to be alone, if you don't mind."

Looking at Ichigo for some more seconds, Kon made his way towards the door. He had the sense to know that it was not the right moment to pry into what was distressing Ichigo. "Sure!" he said, waddling in his stuffed body and making his way downstairs. _The other must surely know what's up,_ he thought. _I'll ask them._

Ichigo dropped his body on his bed, staring at the ceiling with unseeing eyes, thoughts full of Rukia. His mind was still reeling with the thought of her getting married. He realized how much he had always taken her presence in his life for granted, he had been so unprepared that he could lose her like now to think of her getting married…to someone else. As he turned the fact in his mind, he felt as if he was being ripped apart. The thought of another man sharing her life, being the recipient of her love, was horribly painful.

He expelled a choked breath, his fist balled by his sides. His first instinct was urging him to dash to Soul Society right now and talk to her, find out what had prompted her to agree to this marriage, to see for himself, with his own eyes. Hell, right then he felt the need to beg her. To stop her from getting married at all. To tell her he had feelings for her, that he had loved her for a long time. So many things that he should have said since long, but which he had never dared to. There had been a few times in the past years where Ichigo had been on the brink of giving in and admitting his love for her, but then he had always got a grip on himself and backtracked. Now he felt like kicking himself for being such a coward.

But as he continued to think things over rationally, he knew that this was no game; it was huge decision she made, she must have thought this over. She was a very capable person, and if what Yoruichi said was correct, then this is a big deal for Rukia, a huge step as a Kuchiki. She had willingly agreed to this arrangement. Yoruichi was sharp enough to have spotted if Rukia was in any sort of coersion. If Yoruichi said that Rukia professed to be happy with the arrangement, then it must be that she was really happy with it. He would be a total jerk if NOW he rushed in and profess his feelings to her, on the eve of her wedding, a marriage which she has willingly agreed to, feelings that he could not confess for so many years.

Some hours later, having omitted going down for dinner, Ichigo still lay on his beds, thoughts tortured.

It was too late. The words sang ominously. He wished he could turn back time, he wished he could undo things and redo them again, he wished… He tried for the hundredth time now to imagine how life would be without Rukia, and he felt as if his heart was being viciously twisted. _God, they knew what they were talking about when they said that you only realize the importance of someone after you've lost them,_ he thought.

It was in wee morning that sleep caught his tired mind.

**XOXOXO**

"I'm home," called out Ichigo, voice dejected, as he closed the door behind him in the late night. The lights were on, so he assumed that the other three were still awake.

It's been 8 days already, and he felt totally drained emotionally. The past days had been horrible. He had been racking his brains over and over again, trying to decide what to do, but he had just been going in circles. Whatever way he had tried to see things, he had come to a dead-end.

The few hollows which had been unfortunate enough to come to town during this moment had been disposed of with a rage that Ichigo had difficulty containing within him. He had spent most of the week roaming about aimless in town, as he had no classes to go to anymore, his heavy heart unconsciously taking him to his and Rukia's usual hanging out places: the mall, where she would often drag him for shopping, the movie theatre, where they had often been for movies, the park, where they would often hang out after chasing hollows, the ice cream parlor, where Rukia would always look for the biggest serving, the plush toy store where Rukia would beg for all the Chappy the Rabbit they had…

He had received some calls from Uryuu, Inoue and Chad, but he had not felt ready to talk to them yet, and had not picked up their call. They must have sensed his need for solitude, because all three of them had not persisted.

The other three Kurosakis were all in the living room, stopping their talk to greet the young man as he got in. Ichigo could see concern in their faces. Despite the fact that he had tried to hide his despair, he knew that they were aware of his state. Trying to push a smile on his lips, he returned their greeting, and with a mumbled "I've already eaten, I'll be in my room," to no one in particular, he climbed the stairs to his room.

Ishiin looked at his son as he went by them, noticing the haggard face and the bleak eyes which bore the traces of the inner turmoil that he had been trying to hide from them during the whole week.

_Ok, that's enough now,_ the older Kurosaki thought. _It's time to have a man to man talk with that baka son of mine._ It was not really a path that he had wished for his son, but when it's a matter of the heart…he was well placed to know about it. He could sense that Ichigo was on the roof by his reiatsu signature, so he went up.

"So, for how long do you intend to mop around?"

Ichigo turned to look at Ishiin, who was climbing over the window-seal onto the roof. "What do you mean, dad?" he asked tonelessly, swiping his head back into the contemplation of the blinking lights of the town. He was definitely not in the mood for this.

Ishiin looked at his face as he came to stand beside him. "Surely after more than one week of self pity you've come to a decision?" he asked harshly, trying to get a reaction from the young broken man.

"There's nothing to decide," Ichigo mumbled. "She is free to marry who she wants. She has made her decision."

Letting out a sigh, "Son….if you have feelings for her, be the man you are and tell her," Ishiin said quietly. "You are not kids anymore now, so, forge ahead. What makes you hesitate?"

Ichigo remained silent at this. "I was always scared to lose her by bringing in my feelings," Ichigo whispered finally. "We are best friends. And since she did not return my feelings, any declaration of my love for her would have surely shaken that friendship. And now…how can I tell her, when she is about to get married… "

"Well, it seems that you are about to lose her anyway now," Ishiin replied, voicing out what Ichigo have been dreading the past days. "Be certain that her marriage in a noble family will not give her the same freedom as she had until now. I don't think she will come to Karakura for missions often now, if not never."

Ichigo closed his eyes in anguish. This had been his biggest fear, and Ishiin was just confirming it.

"So, if you don't do anything now, you will probably bear the regret for ever that you never confessed your feelings to her." He looked at the silently bent head of his son. "Tell her, Ichigo. Tell her how you've always felt. You owe this to both yourself and her."

"Dad, the wedding is in one week now. It's too late. Besides, how can we be? She is a Shinigami and I_" Before Ichigo could finish, he felt a hard kick on his butt, and the next instant he was flying through the air towards the edge of the roof. By an automatic reflex action, he managed to grab the roof edge and avoided the fall of 2 storeys height down below.

Recovering from his astonishment, he looked indignantly at Ishiin. "What in the hell was that for?" he yelled.

"Your sorry ass would not even have existed to be hanging down that roof if I gave in to those uncertainties years ago!" Isshin yelled back. "If you love her, go, tell her. Deal with the trivialities _when_ they come. Don't hide behind pathetic excuses like that!"

Ichigo met his father's eyes, lost for words. Ishiin looked at him for some more seconds, then turned his back to make his way in the house. "Some things are worth fighting for, Ichigo, love being one of them. The worst that will happen is that you will return back without her, but it will not be different as it is right now, right? Don't leave any room for the regret that _you did not try_!" With that, he was gone.

After some shocked seconds, Ichigo jumped back smoothly to the roof. He reflected on his father's words, and wad forced to agree that his dad was right.

_Yes, she is worth fighting for, _he thought. _Very much worth fighting for._ He suddenly felt lighter, as if a big weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

He had exactly 8 days left before the wedding. He needed to talk to Rukia. As soon as possible. Well, not immediately, since it was too late in the night.

"Thanks Dad!" he murmured. He felt himself being energized again. He was NOT going give up on her so easily! Eyes alive with a new resolve, he made his way in the house.

Very early the following morning, the phone was ringing in a bedroom found at the back of the shop of Kisuke Urahara. With a groan, Urahara opened one eye, sleepily looking at the time in his small bedside clock. 6 O'clock. _Who could be out of his mind to be calling so early? _he thought grouchingly, as he got in a sitting position…Though he did have a tiny idea who it might be. He picked up the phone, stifling a yawn before speaking.

"Moshi moshi…Urahara on the phone," he said sleepily.

"Moshi moshi, Urahara san," came Ichigo's voice.

A slow grin appeared on Urahara's mouth. He had been expecting this call. "Yes, Kurosaki san? How can I help you in this wee hour of the morning?" he asked.

"Could you please make arrangements to open a senkai gate, I need to go to Soul Society as soon as possible," came the reply.


	2. Chapter 2

**A big thanks all those who have reviewed and to those who found this story to be good enough to add it to their favorites (and who did not review, lol).**

**Wanted to add that I've already finished writing the complete story; It's still in rough form, though, and I have to go through the chapters, polishing the edges and making necessary spelling and grammar corrections before posting each of them. It's still taking a bit long because as English is not my primary language, there's a lots of work to do and I'm quite tight on time…But hopefully it will not be too long between the updates.**

**To the Karin/Toushiro fans: These two are more on the sides in this story, the pairing would not be concluded here; there is a sequel story already planned out, which would be based on their pairing. **

**XOXOXO**

A slow grin appeared on Urahara's face. He had been expecting this call. "Yes, Kurosaki-san? How can I help you in this wee hour of the morning?" he asked.

"Would you please make arrangements to open a senkai gate, I need to go to Soul Society as soon as possible," came the reply.

"Oh, sure, Kurosaki-san. In fact, Ishida-san and Orihime-san had already scheduled to leave for Soul Society today, as Ishida-san has to make the dresses for Rukia-san," Urahara informed him. "I had already made a request to the 12th division to stabilize the barrier inside the dangai, and we scheduled to have a senkai gate ready for 2 o'clock this afternoon. I hope 2 o'clock is ok for you?"

"I'll be there! Thank you, Urahara san," Ichigo said before hanging up.

Urahara slowly put the phone down, deep in his thoughts.

At 2 o'clock that Sunday afternoon, Ichigo, already in his Shinigami form, stood in Urahara's basement training ground. Inoue Orihime and Ishida Uryuu were there too, having arrived just some minutes ago. The residents at Urahara were all there as well, along with Yoruichi, waiting to see the group off to soul society. After the usual greetings, Uryuu and Orihime, who had been going out since some years now, announced their recent official engagement to the small assembled group, which immediately resulted in a chorus of congratulations from everybody. The couple's happiness was obvious.

Orihime was flashing her new engagement ring around, her grey eyes shining as she talked animatedly to Yoruichi. The blond girl was as lovely as ever; the teen looks had given way to an even more beautiful young woman. She had been studying as a nurse for the past years, alternating her studies with in-house training at the hospital owed by the Ishida group. Ichigo was relieved to see that there was no trace of awkwardness now between him and Orihime, in regard to that time during their high school days, when she had confessed her interest in him and where he had (gently) told her that he did not share those feelings for her.

Uryuu, as always when they went to Soul Society, was dressed in white all over. He still felt the need to affirm his Quincy status by dressing in opposite colors to the Shinigami's black kimono. Much to Ichigo's relief though, he did not wear his famous cape now. The young Ishida had just completed his university studies too, having studied in the business and management field. He was the sole heir of the Ishida empire, so he was meant to take the reigns of the Ishida companies soon. He had still kept his singular passion, though: needle work, field in which he was as spectacular as ever. It had been with great pleasure that he had agreed to Rukia's request to make some of her wedding dresses. He had feel honored when Urahara had passed Rukia's request, and he had immediately scheduled his work so that he can be free for the week, to concentrate on the dresses.

Since Rukia could not be in Karakura for the numerous fittings, seeing the short notice of the wedding, it had seemed more practical for Uryuu to be in Soul Society for the whole work session. A big bag was slumped across his shoulder, containing all the necessary materials that he had been busy looking for during the past 2 days, though the main fabrics would be purchased in Soul Society, as per the message that Rukia had sent via Urahara.

Uryuu looked over at Ichigo, eyes pensive. The old gang, consisting of Uryuu himself, Orihime and Chad, were still active in the chase of hollows, though not as active as Ichigo. They only stepped in when there were some major assignments, which was only a couple of times per year. But though they did not meet as regularly as their high school days, they had still maintained a solid friendship, maybe due to the fact that they had faced death together so often. Now, as Uryuu looked at the orange haired substitute Shinigami, his sharp eye did not miss the drawn look of his face. He wondered what the reckless Kurosaki had up his sleeves.

Both he and Orihime had been astounded on hearing about Rukia's wedding to someone from Soul Society. Like everybody else, Uryuu had thought that Ichigo and Rukia would finally get together. So, the marriage of Rukia to someone else had shocked him. He and Orihime had discussed a lot about this. They had called Ichigo, wanting to be of any support if their friend needed them, but seeing that Ichigo had not taken their call, they had respected his need to be undisturbed. The lack of move from Ichigo the past week had made Uryuu think that maybe it was over, there was nothing anymore between those two.

Then, this morning, Urahara had called to inform him that Ichigo was going to Soul Society too. This news had immediately made him alert. Knowing his reckless orange haired friend, Uryuu knew that this could not be a simple courtesy visit. He wondered what could be in store for them for the coming days in Soul Society. He had not yet asked Ichigo about his intentions, and neither did he intend to probe; if his friend wanted to talk, he was there, but he would not push. Anyway, he was, as always, fully geared for any eventuality that might occur. _The Quincy, after all, never went to Soul Society unprepared._

Ichigo looked impatiently at Urahara, wondering why the man was not proceeding with the gate opening. He was about to ask him, when Yasutora Sado, alias Chad, made his appearance.

"Chad?" Ichigo was surprised but happy to see his huge, silent friend.

"Urahara-san informed me of your departure to Soul Society," was all Chad said.

After Chad had received the call informing him about Rukia's wedding, he had patiently waited for the next step. He had already alerted his boss, at the bank where he worked as chief security, about an eventual time off for the coming days. Then, this morning, he had received the second call from Urahara, informing him about Ichigo's intention to go to Soul Society. The time of a call to his boss, to inform him for the 1 week off that he had already requested, followed by a quick good bye to his girlfriend, Sephora, Chad was ready to go. And here he was, at Urahara's basement training grounds.

Ichigo looked at the small group, admitting internally that he felt very happy for their presence. "Now we are ready to go!" he told Urahara.

"Umm…, we still have a late comer," was Urahara's reply, much to Ichigo surprise. "Ah, there she is!"

Ichigo was still wondering who the latecomer could be, when Karin lithely jumped down the ladder leading to the basement. She was in her Shinigami form as well, donning the black Shinigami kimono, her Zanpakutou sheathed by her side.

"Karin! No way!" Ichigo exclaimed, a frown immediately appearing on his face.

But before he could place any further words, Karin rushed in, "I have 2 weeks of summer vacation left, it's high time I pay the first visit to Soul Society, and this is the perfect time to do it, so yes I'm coming too." She looked belligerently at her brother.

"Karin," he started, the protective instinct for his little sister taking over, "I really don't think this is a good idea."

"Ichi – nii, relax. I'm a big girl now, I can take care of myself!" she huffed, " Besides, what's going to happen to me?" Eyes glinting teasingly, she linked her arms into his, "Don't worry, I will be out of your hair most of the time," she finished.

"She is right, Kurosaki-san," Urahara stepped in, "it's about time she visits Soul Society, and this is the perfect opportunity to do so. There's no threatening mission which is taking you guys there this time, so what better time to introduce her to the real Shinigami world?" At Ichigo's stuborn look, he added, "Even Ishiin agrees about this."

"I'll join you guys shortly anyway, so don't worry, Ichigo. I'll take her off your hands," Yoruichi lazily chimed in.

Ichigo did not have any valid argument to stop Karin, so he had no choice but to concede to her accompanying them.

"Yuzu and Kon are crossing fingers," whispered Karin in his ears, so that the others couldn't hear. She had deduced that he had not yet made it known to the others about his _actual_ intention for going to Soul Society, though she doubted that they had not guessed yet.

Ichigo grimaced when thinking about Kon. The mod soul had left him alone the past week - the others must have warned him not to pry - but this morning, as soon as Kon had heard that Ichigo was going to Soul Society, he had been bugging Ichigo non-stop, with demands, threats and wails to be taken along.

Finally, when he had admitted defeat against Ichigo's blunt refusal, he had started to plague him with sobs and whines. "You be sure to bring Nee-san back here, Ichigo! Don't you DARE fail! Oh my poor Neeeeeeeeeeee-Saaaaaaaaan!" he had go on and on, until finally Ichigo had had to kick him out of the window.

_Talk about being pressured!_ Ichigo thought.

**XOXOX**

At last, they all stood in front of the huge, white framed senkai gate, which had the Reishi henkankon attached upon to allow Orihime, Uryuu and Chad to be able to pass through.

Ichigo took a deep breath. _So this is it,_ he thought. Things were set in motion now; very soon he was about to meet Rukia. The most frightening of it all was that he had absolutely no freaking idea what to tell her and how to tackle things. He had not planned anything at all, he did not have any smart strategy up his sleeves, and he had zero idea where or how to start when he would face her. He gave an inner terrified sigh, his heart hammering in his chest in nervousness at what awaited him. He would have to deal with things as they come, tackle the current situations when arised and improvise on the spur of the moment; just about how he had always tackled things in his life, he thought ruefully.

All of them entered the gate.

As usual, it was a sprint for their life, as the Kouyruu conveniently made its appearance at the exact very moment that they set foot within the senkamon.

"Not again!" Ichigo thought angrily, as he sprinted ahead, ensuring that Karin was right in front of him.

"Is this what everybody needs to undergo each time they travel in between Soul Society and the living world?" Karin yelled, as the others urged her to run for life.

"No, they are not supposed to set off exactly when we get in," Uryuu yelled back. "I'm sure it's just when WE have to go to Soul Society that it appears on cue like this!" He was convinced that the creepy Kurotshuchi Mayuri, captain of the 12th division who was responsible for the gates, must be behind this.

Not too soon, though, they were all bursting out from the gate, falling out to the sunlit, grassy grounds, panting furiously and gasping for breath. The gate had been set on the old execution grounds on the hill overlooking Sereitei. They slowly recovered their breath, standing up to take in the amazing view.

"Wow!" breathed Karin, taking in the sight of Sereitei, "Soul Society sure is beautiful!"

"Yeah, it sure is!" said a loud voice. Turning around, they saw the pineapple head of Abarai Renji appeared first, then the young man himself came into view, walking towards them.

Red hair tied in his usual high ponytail, his tattooed face holding a smile, Renji warmly greeted his friends. He had been the one assigned to meet the group. The Karakurans were all happy to see him, the past years of countless missions together having sealed their friendship tighter.

"We had been expecting only Ishida and Orihime san for today," he observed, as he raised his eyebrows at Ichigo.

"Yeah, last minute plan," replied Ichigo.

Renji smirked before cheerfully slapping him on the back. "Great to see you, though," he said, before turning towards the others.

Ichigo carefully scrutinized Renji's face as he talked with the others. He could not detect any signs indicating that the young fuki-taicho was disturbed by Rukia's upcoming wedding. But still, Ichigo made a note to talk to him as soon as they could have the opportunity, he wanted to know how Renji felt.

"Karin, welcome for your first visit to Soul Society," Renji smiled affectionately at the young girl. During his numerous missions in the living world, he had been a frequent visitor to the Kurosaki household, and he had taken a fond liking to both Karin and Yuzu.

"Thank you!" she replied back, her eyes gleaming with excitement, "and hey, I expect you to take some time to spar with me!"

_Here she goes again,_ groaned Ichigo. "You'd better watch out, Renji, you'll find yourself spending all your time sparring with her now!" he warned.

"It's ok," Renji grinned. "Soul society is quite calm at the moment. I took quite an advance in my paper work anyway, so I'll be able to arrange for some free times for the week." Looking at Karin, he warned teasingly, "Be prepared to have some serious sparing sessions with me! We'll see what you really have in there!"

Karin was delighted at that. Urahara had informed her that, due to Soul Society being made totally of soul particles, Shinigami powers were on another level here. Therefore, now, she would be able to test her full Shinigami capacity.

The group made to move down to teh city, but Karin lingered back, enjoying the view for a little more while.

_Toushiro… so this is your world!_ she thought, feeling a slight shiver running down her back.

She shook her head. _I'm here for Ichi-nii, so anything else was to get to the back-stage._ Her main priority was to make sure that she could be of any help to Ichigo if ever the need arised. She had solemnly made this promised to the very anxious Yuzu, and she intended to keep her promise. Taking a last look around, she ran off to catch up with the others, as Renji lead them to the 13th squad to meet Rukia.

**XOXOX**

Kuchiki Rukia was in her office in the 13th squad; office which she shared with a few other fellow Shinigami. The past weeks had been hectic. It seemed that she had a million things to do, so many tasks to organize, so many details to look into. It almost seemed that the days had lacked hours, she had had that much to do. Right then, she was emptying her desk and her drawers, packing her few office belongings into a box. She was moving her things to the administrative office, where she would be working from now on. She paused and rubbed the back of her neck tiredly. _So much was about to change,_ she thought for the umpteenth time. Tucking a black strand of hair behind her ears, her thoughts went back to about 4 weeks ago…

She had been having breakfast at the Kuchiki manor, when Kenji, the manservant who worked in the Kuchiki manor, had come to inform her that Byakuya had summoned her for a meeting. Feeling quite nervous, as Byakuya's summoning always meant serious business, she had gone in his study, to find that he had not been alone. The three Kuchiki elders- two old men, and one old woman- of the Kuchiki clan, had also been present.

Rukia's nervousness had increased even more; the presence of the Kuchiki elders could only meant something ominous. Many in the Kuchiki clan had always made it known that they did not approve of her adoption in the Kuchiki family. These three elders had been being among that group. So, their presence in the meeting did not bode anything good. As she had knelt in respect and greeted them, her thoughts had been running over the possibilities of such a meeting. And while she had respectfully waited for them to speak, she had tried to decipher Byakuya's expression, which had proved to be fruitless, as usual. He had been wearing the usual cold, closed look, the usual calm unfazed demeanor, and he stared straight ahead, not meeting her questioning eyes.

After a cold greeting back, Chuyo, the old Kuchiki lady, was the first one to speak. She had informed Rukia about a marriage proposal that the Shotoku noble family had brought forward, for the sole heir, Shotoku Haruko.

To say that Rukia had not been expecting this was an understatement. She had been stunned, and had listened, speechless, as Chuyo had droned on about how this was an excellent match, that Rukia was very lucky indeed, that she was fortunate for the Shotoku family had deemed her good enough to be the wife of their heir.

After Chuyo has finished, Mitachi, one of two the male elders, had continued. "As you most probably know, the Shotoku family is one of the 4 greatest noble's family of Sereitei. Therefore, it is a great honor for the Kuchiki family to have this proposal, and such an alliance will only benefit the Kuchiki family in its status," he had haughtily said.

"Byakuya here had foregone the Kuchiki's rule and duty to marry in a noble family, so now we count on you to rectify this and strengthen our political position," Hirashin, the 2nd male elder, had put in arrogantly.

Rukia had bristled inwardly at the jab. Stealing a look at Byakuya, she had caught the slight tightening of his jaws. But apart from that, he had been his usual calm and had not reacted to old man's sly innuendos, though.

Then, at last, Byakuya had looked at her. In his usual toneless voice, he had asked, "Do you have any… _reason_ for which you should not consider this marriage?"

Despite her dazed state, Rukia had caught the slightest hesitation, and had been taken aback by his question. Had she understood correctly? Was he asking whether she had _someone_ already in her life? She had been flustered for a second, before bowing her head, her thoughts on a certain someone who _could_ have been in her life, but who _was not_, and would not be ever be.

"No, there's no particular reason, Nii-sama," Rukia had replied finally and truthfully, her voice barely coming out.

"In this case, please take some days to consider the proposal, and let me know your mind." Byakuya had quietly said. "If you _do_ consider going ahead, then I'll arrange for you to meet Shotoku Haruko. We'll proceed from there, based on what you decide after that meeting."

Rukia could see that the three elders were as shocked as she was. Usually, in the noble families, from what she knew, the marriage was arranged and finalized between the elders and the leader of each family. The groom, most especially the bride, did not have any say in the arrangement whatsoever. But here, Byakuya was not only giving her the _choice_ to decide, he was furthermore letting her meet the guy before she gave her final decision.

She had looked at Byakuya, her eyes shining gratefully."Thank you Nii Sama," she had whispered.

The elders had started to protest, but Byakuya had raised his hand to silence them. "This will be all for now, you can leave," he had told Rukia, adjourning the meeting.

Following that meeting, Rukia's thoughts had been in a jumble. Ever since she had been adopted in the Kuchiki family, she had somewhat known that someday, it was to be expected that she get married, that most probably her marriage would be arranged into another noble family - it had always been that way in the noble circle. The prospect of it happening in any near future, though, had been far-fetched to her; she had never given it a thought. Now, she had to face that fact and take a decision.

She had gauged all the reasons why she _could_ refuse this marriage, against the few reasons that she _had_ to accept it. 7 years ago, her heart would not have been so distressed over this. 7 years ago, she would have gone ahead and do what was _expected_ from her as a Kuchiki. Heck, 7 years ago, she had, without any protest, embraced her execution sentence in the name of rules and duty as a Kuchiki. But that was 7 years ago, and this was now.

She definitely was not ready to get married, but would she ever be, anyway? By Shinigami life, she was already way past the age where nobles usually get married, so how long could she stall that fate?

In the past 7 years, she had known what it is to be free, at least to some extent. Her life in the living world had given her a glimpse of what it was to be carefree, to be young without having to bear the burden of the responsibilities of a noble. But, whatever the past 7 years had shown her, the fact remained that she was a Kuchiki and she had some responsibilities towards the name.

Since the escape from her execution and after that open talk she had with Byakuya on the execution grounds, a slow, strong bond had started and had been established between the two of them. Byakuya, in his own, albeit aloof, way, had shown his caring for her during the past years. For Rukia, who had, for most of her life in the Kuchiki family, been deprived of any family attention, the caring of Byakuya had meant a lot to her. Consequentially, these past years, being a Kuchiki had taken another meaning for her; being a Kuchiki and being the little sister of Byakuya was something she now carried with a sense of pride and total commitment.

Owing to that, despite how free of the responsibility of being a noble she indulge into while being in the living world, when it came to serious matters involving Byakuya, she was a Kuchiki through and through. She did NOT want to be the reason for him to face further contempt from the other Kuchiki members. She did not want to be the opportunity that the other Kuchikis needed to point their fingers at him. She hated how the elders looked down on Byakuya for marrying her sister, Hisana, and later when he had come to adopt herself. She could imagine how hard it must have been for Byakuya to go through all that. And the fact that Byakuya was not forcing her into this marriage, that he was yet again willing to break the family rules for her if need be to allow her more freedom of decision made her feel more bonded towards him.

Then, her thoughts went to …Ichigo.

Ichigo, due to whom, ironically, the bond between her and Byakuya had started. Ichigo, with whom she could not deny her profound attachment and feelings. Ichigo, for whom, at first, she had been so confused by feelings she could not understand, but for whom she could go beyond her limits; for whom she could break rules. Ichigo, with whom she could feel like a normal, young woman.

Though the depth of her attachment to the human boy, now man, had scared her and exhilarated her at the same time, she knew that she could never hope to expect anything out of it. So many things stood in their way. Ichigo was her friend. Whatever feelings she may have for him was irrelevant, since he did not share them. Furthermore, she was a Shinigami, technically a dead being, whereas Ichigo was very much a living person, with a long promising life ahead of him, a bright future to look forward to. He has the right to have a long, _normal_, human life, with a _normal_ life partner; he deserved to have lots of children with a normal human wife. Sure, his father, Isshin, had given up his Shinigami life to be with the human woman he loved. Rukia would willingly do that too, but that decision was not for her to make. It was not for her to burden something as this on Ichigo. These reasons had always held her in check, and she had always ensured that she never let anything transpired with her dealings with Ichigo.

Ichigo, who could have been the one in her life, but who was not, and could never be.

For two days she tossed and turned her thoughts around, anguished and desperate, debating what was the best thing to do.

Finally, it all got down to what she _wanted_ versus what she _had_ to do.

And the balance was skewed anyway, because what she wanted was not what could ever be.

Finally, the decision had been clear, she had concluded after 2 days. She went to see Byakuya. "Nii-sama, I agree to this proposal. But I have one condition, please. I would like to continue with my career as Shinigami at the Gotei 13 even after being married."

Byakuya had looked at her lengthily, his face expressionless, as usual. She had met his eyes squarely, showing her strong resolve. Finally, he had nodded. "Ok, so be it. I will let the Shotoku family know about your desire to continue to be a Shinigami. And I will arrange a meeting with you and Haruko."

A few days later, in presence of both parties, she met Haruko. _At least he was nothing like Oomaeda Marechiyo,_ had been her thoughts. She had confirmed her acceptance of the proposal. Some days later, the marriage was finalized and the date fixed. The Shotoku family had insisted on having the wedding within that month, as per the requirements of their family calendar.

Coming back to the present, Rukia gave a deep sigh.

That was the concession she had managed to secure with her future in-law family, when she had made the request to keep her work at the Gotei 13; that she could stay at Gotei 13, but not to be on the frontline for missions. As the wife of the heir of one of the 4 greatest noble family, the Shotoku family had not liked the idea of her being on field works as often as she had been doing up till now. As the wife of a noble, she was not even expected to hold a career. But faced with her request via Byakuya, the Shotoku family had, albeit reluctantly, agreed that she kept her job in Gotei 13, but it would have to be something which would keep her in Soul Society most of the time, something fitting for a noble's wife.

When Ukitake Taicho had been informed of her situation, he had suggested that she be assigned to the administrative side of the 13th squad. Thus, she would be mostly dealing the management and paperwork of the 13th squad; she would not be on the active line as before anymore.

_I would miss this office,_ she thought with a heavy heart. She would miss the field work. She would miss the missions to the living world. No missions meant no more trips to Karakura town; she would miss Karakura town and all her friends there.

Most of all, she would miss Ichigo.

_Ichigo._

Her heart gave a painful lurch, but then she berated herself. She had made her decision, she had thought lengthily about all the aspects and consequences, and she was at peace with herself over this decision. The time to be wistful about emotions which had never meant to be anyway, was past over now. She would look towards her future, and embrace whatever comes along her way with positivity.

She knew her friendship with Ichigo would not remain the same after her marriage. She hoped that they would be able to keep as much as possible of their bond. She intended to extract the promise that he was to visit her as often as he could, wherever he would come to Soul Society. Still, she was aware that things would change a LOT. Being the wife of a noble does not carry the freedom that she had had until now.

_We were bound to come to this though, some day,_ she thought. They would have had to move on with each other's respective life anyway at some point.

She felt bad that she had not told Ichigo about her wedding in person. He was after all her best friend, and he deserved more than being told in such an impersonal way. But, apart from really having too much to do to be able to move away from soul society, she had mostly been a coward, scared that she would not have been able to face him with her decision. She had preferred telling him behind the safety a screen. But she has been disappointed when she found that he was not at Urahara on that day. _Eventually I will have to call him again to ensure that he WOULD be coming,_ she thought.

Coming up from her musings, she suddenly felt a very familiar reiatsu. Her eyes widened with surprise.

_Ichigo? Here, already!_ She thought, and felt a slight moment of panic.

She had known that Uryuu and Orihime were supposed to come today, but she had not been expecting Ichigo. She did not feel ready to face him yet. Then, chiding herself for her weakness, she took a deep breath, steeling herself before putting on her best smile on her face.

**XOXOX**

Uryuu, Orihime and Chad came in the office first, while Ichigo and Renji had stopped on the way to introduce Karin to Kotetsu Kiyone and Sentaro Kotsubaki. Rukia was happy to see the three. Chad, as usual, greeted her in his quiet voice, Uryuu bowed respectfully to her, and Orihime, smiling brightly, hugged her. The two girls congratulated each other; Rukia for Orihime and Uryuu's recent engagement and Inoue for Rukia's upcoming wedding.

"Yo!" The drawling voice of Ichigo suddenly broke through the enthusiastic chatter of the two girls. He stood at the door frame, hazel eyes watching Rukia intently.

To other people, Kuchiki Rukia may not have changed much during the past 7 years, but looking at her for as long as Ichigo had, he sure did notice all the small changes that subtly stood out. Her face, framed by her raven locks, had lost some of the juvenile teen look, her violet eyes had gain a hint of maturity, her figure had taken a tad bit of more curves just where they should. And she had managed to grow taller by 2 mere centimeters - a fact which Ichigo had never stopped teasing her about, as to him, she was still a midget.

_God, I've missed her,_ he couldn't help thinking, as his eyes took their fill of her. Just her mere presence gave him a strength that he had been lacking the past days. He deeply hope that he manage to go through all this unscalded.

Unknown to themselves, both their eyes held the sparkle they usually have when they meet each other; hazel and violet orbs becoming alight with happiness as they locked gaze. A laugh from Renji, who was in conversation with Chad, brought them both out of their short trance. Rukia, flustered for a second, smiled at Ichigo, while he in return bore his usual smirk.

"Ichigo, it's been long!" she said. Smiling even more widely, she looked around at the group. "Thank you so much, all of you, for being here. I'm so happy that you have all been able to make it!" Except for Ichigo, they all warmly smiled back at her. "I'm sorry I couldn't come personally to invite you guys, I've been having so much to do, what with the short notice, " she continued.

"We wouldn't have missed it for anything, Rukia!" Orihime replied cheerfully.

Renji and Karin came through the door at that moment. "Karin!" exclaimed Rukia, "You are here too!"

"Sure am, Rukia-nee," Karin grinned. The long years had the two developed a close rapport, and they hugged each other. "It's a great opportunity for my first visit to Soul Society!" Karin said as they broke apart. "Yuzu, Dad and Kon sent their love, by the way."

"How's the bride-to-be doing?" teased Renji, gaining a light punch on the arm from an exasperated Rukia.

On his side, Ichigo, propped against the wall, watched her closely while she chatted with the others, trying to gauge her emotions.

"So, what are you doing?" asked Ichigo a little while later, pointing to the box on her desk, when the greeting chatters had died down.

"I'm moving to another office. I'll be assigned to administrative department now," Rukia told him. "I'm keeping my job, but not as a field worker; no more missions for me now."

Ichigo looked at her, eyes darkening, but before he could make any comments, Ukitake Jyuushiro, captain of 13th Squad, entered in the office.

"Another Kurosaki, huh?" the white haired man said, a twinkle in his eyes, as he greeted Karin.

Karin immediately took a liking to him.

"You guys are welcome to stay at the 13th Squad," said the captain. "I'll ask Kotsubaki and Kiyone to make the necessary arrangements for your rooms in the living quarters."

The few times that Ichigo and the others had been in Soul Society, they had always stayed at the 13th squad.

"Nii-Sama also proposed that you stay at the Kuchiki manor, as you are guests for my wedding," Rukia interjected. "We were expecting the arrival of Uryuu and Orihime, so we have already made the arrangements for them. I'll just send words to prepare some more rooms for the rest of you…"

"I would much prefer staying at the squad here," Ichigo quickly said. The idea of staying in the Kuchiki manor, under the haughty eyes of Byakuya, did not appeal to him at all. The others quickly stated the same, since, apart from Karin who had yet to meet the man, none of them fancied the idea of staying in close proximity to Byakuya as well.

"It would be more practical this way, Rukia," said Orihime. "Being such a big group right now, we would surely disturb the Kuchiki household. We would feel much more comfortable here."

Rukia was forced to accept their decision.

After a few more minutes of chatting, Ukitake took his leave. "I have a captain meeting to attend. Guess this will be a long one," he sighed, since this was their monthly report meeting that all captains attend. "See you guys later!" With that he disappeared.

Karin, eager at seeing more of Sereitei, wanted to have a visit around, which prompted Renji to propose to take her for a short tour. Chad asked to go with them too, and the three left the office. Uryuu wanted to unpack his big bag already, and as if on cue, Kiyone and Kotsubaki appeared, announcing that their rooms were ready. Orihime decided to go with him.

As the two made to leave, Ichigo couldn't resist teasing them. "Behave, kids!" he called out.

Uryuu sent him a glare while adjusting his glasses, a light blush appearing on his cheeks. Orihime giggled.

**XOXOX**

Rukia had to take her stuffs to her new office. Ichigo, finding this as an opportunity to be able to have a private talk to her, immediately proposed to carry her box.

"I can carry it, you know, it's not heavy," said Rukia, eyebrows raised in surprise by his unusual chevalresque attitude. Usually, back in the living world, he would not have raised his tiny finger to help her for such matters.

"It's ok, miss independent. A puny weight like this won't have any effect on _my_ height, so don't worry!" he jeered as response. Rukia's eyes immediately flashed menacingly, but before she could make a retort, Ichigo was out of the office, said box in hands.

"So, you are getting married." Ichigo broke the silence as they walked side by side in the deserted corridors some minutes later, making their way towards her new office. "It's very sudden, isn't it?"

"Yes," Rukia replied. "Usually here, in Soul Society, once an arranged marriage is agreed upon, there is not much delay to hold the ceremony."

"How do you feel about all this…are you okay with this arranged marriage?" he asked, studying her face for her reaction.

She looked up at him before slowly replying. "I was always aware that someday my marriage would be arranged. I knew this was in store for me as a Kuchiki, it was unavoidable," she paused, then continued almost wistfully, "I'm not the first, neither the last one who has her marriage arranged in the noble circle."

"But are you happy with it?" he insisted, a frown made its way to his face.

"Yes, I am happy with my decision," she tried to keep the edge out of her voice. "I was free to chose, and I thought about it thoroughly before accepting." She stared ahead as they continued walking.

He scowled at her words. "Rukia, this is your life we are talking about…"

"Ichigo, it's not as horrible as you are making it sound. As I said, this is very common practice," she said, her voice rising by a notch. "Haruko is a nice man. I know I will be taken good care of," she continued with a firm voice. "And I'm a Kuchiki. We have rules to follow and I've got the responsibility and the duty towards my family…"

"Rukia, don't give me that crap!" Ichigo cut in roughly, his voice rising as well. He stopped walking and glared at her. "Rules, duty…! What is it always with you guys? And it may be common practice, but Byakuya did not follow it, so why should you?"

Rukia stopped as well and turned to fully face him. "Ichigo, stop it!" she snapped. "Leave Byakuya out of this! To you rules may not have any value, but to us here in Sereitei it does! Why do you insist of making it to be so bad? I've made my decision, and I'm happy with it!"

"Then why do you look sad?" Ichigo asked challengingly.

Rukia was taken short. "Of course part of me is sad," she replied heatedly. "There's a part of my life I'm living behind, so many things are about to change! Isn't it normal to feel a bit sad? But it does not mean that I'm not happy, either." She was breathing hard by that time. "And what is it with this persecution from you, Ichigo? I don't understand where you expect to go with this…I thought we were best friends, and you were the one I expected most support from!" she said almost accusingly. "I thought you would be the one to share my happiness most! If you can't support my decision, then…" she was practically shouting by the end, anger and distress mixed with pain clearly evident in her eyes. She could not finish her sentence, she was so riled up. Then, without any further words, she turned and hurried away, almost running.

Ichigo was floored. He stood there, stunned, her words still ringing in her ears. He had very rarely saw Rukia so upset. The spitfire, always bickering Rukia...

_Damn!_ he thought, _Damn and damn! This was not how it was supposed to be!_ He had not meant to argue with her like that, he had not meant to upset her like that. He had not supposed to be _fighting_ with her and putting on her on the defensive like that. As usual, when it came to her, he had let himself being carried away by his emotions rather than by his rational side. Coming out from his stunned state, he ran after her.

"Rukia!" he called out, as he ran in her direction, but she just hurried on. "Rukia wait!" He finally caught up with her, balancing the box in his arms and stopping in front of her.

"Rukia!" He stood there, opening his mouth but not knowing what to say. After staring down at her, noting how her violet eyes were still distressed, he tried again. "Listen, I...I'm sorry! I didn't mean to upset you. I just…"

Rukia gave a deep, shuddering sigh, some of the anger leaving her eyes as she looked up at him. "Ichigo, please…be happy for me. Right now, I really need your support," she said quietly, a pleading note in her voice. "This is a huge thing for me. Please be the good friend that you have always been…"

Ichigo stared down at her, wordless. With a sinking heart, he realized that this was proving to be much more difficult than he had anticipated.


	3. Chapter 3

**Once again, thanks to all those who reviewed this story. It's such a huge motivation to write!**

**XOXOXO**

The next day, Ichigo woke up to the morning sunlight streaming through the windows of his room in the 13th Squad. As the events of the previous evening slowly came to him, he let out a loud groan. He mentally beat himself at how badly his talk with Rukia had gone.

After her plea to him to be her support, he had not been able to say anything anymore, and they had quietly gone to her new office. There had been some slight awkwardness between them as they had unpacked her things, while some of her new colleagues had been hanging around. As soon as they were done with her new office, they had got back to meet the others, where she and Uryuu had disappeared for about an hour to discuss about her dresses. By the time the two had emerged, it had been night already. They all had a quick meal at a food booth, Renji joining them as well, and immediately after she had had to leave for the Kuchiki Manor.

All in all, Ichigo did not have any further opportunity to be alone with her for him to initiate another talk. Furthermore, Ichigo felt that after the fiasco of his first attempt, he had better let things cool off a little bit before broaching the subject again; he would have to tread very carefully and not let things escalate into another fight. _It would only worsen my case if I get her riled up and on the defensive. How can I be credible if I only berate her and push her to a corner? _he thought.

He felt like banging his head against a wall. He didn't have the faintest clue at how to tackle all this. It had sound simple enough back home when he decided to come to meet her; the plan had been to confess his love for her and see where to go from there. Being face to face with her, though, was completely something else. It was incredibly hard for him to just go and blurt out his feelings to her; it sounded so phony, even to him. Giving a sigh, he thought he had better get ready and go to look for the others, they must be awake and up by now too.

Washed and ready, he made his way towards Rukia's old office where they had planned to meet.

Renji was already there, waiting for them to show up. He had come to join them for breakfast and to take Karin for a sparring session, as he had promised her. Seeing that the two of them were alone, Ichigo saw this as the opportunity to know about Renji's opinion on the marriage.

Without beating about the bush, he asked, "Renji, how do you feel about Rukia's upcoming marriage?"

Renji looked back at him quizzically, evidently surprised by the question. "It's a great match," he said, after a short silence. "From what I've gathered, this Haruko guy is a fine man. Rukia will be well cared for. He is the most eligible bachelor at the moment among the nobles, and Rukia deserves the best. I'm very happy for her."

Ichigo stared at the young man, unable to believe that he was being so meek about all this. "But, Renji, aren't you disturbed by the fact that it is an arranged marriage?"

Renji frowned, peering closely at Ichigo, trying to decipher his purpose behind this conversation. "Ichigo, with her being a Kuchiki, it was a fact that the family would arrange her marriage into another noble. I don't find that disturbing."

The reply annoyed Ichigo. _What's with all of them? _he thought. _Nobody seemed concerned about feelings over here._ He knew that Soul society had rules which stemmed from the Feudal Japanese era, but still, he was baffled by how brainwashed even his younger- generation's friends could be. He had thought that maybe their short insertion in the modern living world would have made them a bit more rebellious towards such ancient rules, but he had apparently been wrong.

"What about your feelings for Rukia? I got the impression, at the beginning, that you had some feelings for her?" Ichigo asked, looking at the fuki-taicho straight in the eye.

Renji seemed taken aback. He recovered quickly, though, and gave a short laugh. "No, I may have been _protective_ of her due to our closeness during our childhood. We grew up together, we looked out after each other. So yeah, I had much more than casual feelings for her," he said. "But not THOSE types of feelings which you are insinuating," he quickly specified.

Ichigo gave a mental sigh of relief at that. Renji was a good friend, and Ichigo would have felt bad to tread on his toes.

Renji was watching Ichigo intently now, an intrigued glint in his eyes. "Why are you asking all this? How do YOU feel about Rukia's marriage?" he asked suspiciously.

Ichigo was racking his brain of how best to reply to that question, when they were interrupted by the merry voice of Orihime, who was followed by Uryuu, Karin and Chad. "Ohaiyo, Kurosaki-kun! Ohaiyo, Abarai-kun!"

_Phew, saved by the bell,_ thought Ichigo, relieved that he had been spared from replying.

Renji scowled as Ichigo evaded the question to return Orihime's greeting.

"I'm hungry!" said Karin. "Where do we eat?"

They all trooped to the squad's canteen for breakfast, courtesy of the Gotei 13 and 13th squad, as Ukitake had informed them the previous day. As they ate, Karin looked at her brother. She had not missed the slight tension between him and Rukia the previous day, so she deduced that things had not gone too well. She dearly hoped that Ichigo manage to sort things out as soon as possible. It was hard to stand by and not being able to do anything; she could not interfere, this was something that the two had to work on their own. She was there if ever her help was needed, but until then, all she could do was be a bystander.

**XOXOXO**

They were still in the canteen when Rukia came to join them. She declined breakfast as she had already eaten at the Kuchiki's manor. Ichigo looked at her carefully, trying to gauge her mood after the talk of yesterday. Apart from the dark circles beneath her eyes, she looked same as ever. He felt guilty, hoping that those dark circles were not the results of their argument.

Deciding to use the only way he knew how to shake her from any dark feelings, he drawled, "Oi, Midget, you look like a panda with those dark circles around your eyes."

She immediately bristled. "And you look like a grouchy bear with that scary scowl!"

"So, what's the plan?" cut in Uryuu, stopping them before this would escalade into another of their long bickering session.

"Well, before anything else, Nii-sama has invited all of you for dinner tomorrow, at the Kuchiki manor. You too, Renji," Rukia said, looking at her childhood friend. "Haruko will be there too. It will be a good opportunity to introduce him to you guys. As my close friends, I'd like you to get to meet him."

Ichigo felt an icy tingle going down his back, his mood immediately darkening. _Meet the…man?_ he thought, clenching his jaw unconsciously.

"Ah Rukia…so have you got many opportunities to cook a romantic dinner for your fiancé?" Orihime teased.

Rukia laughed, "Oh no, things work differently here, Orihime. I've met the guy only once, and we were chaperoned by a court of people!"

"Huh?" Karin could not help being weirded by that. "Geez, Rukia-nee, this sounds so archaic! Soul Society really still lives in the ancient age, doesn't it?"

_Same like I was thinking, _thought Ichigo, though secretly, he was elated that Rukia had not been in any romantic dates with the guy…yet.

"So, that's settled for tomorrow evening then," Rukia was saying. "Now, we go to Rukongai to the most famous master weaver of Soul Society, Tsujishirō Kuroemon III. He's the one who usually makes the Kuchiki's fabric. I'll select the fabric which Uryuu will use to make my bridal gown. Nii-sama has already informed him about our arrival today, so he's expecting us."

The group decided to separate. Karin left with Renji for her sparring session; Chad accompanied them.

Orihime, naturally, wanted to go to Rukongai. Uryuu was excited about the prospect of meeting the famous weaver; he was eager to see what sort of fineries Soul Society could provide.

Rukia turned towards Ichigo. "What would you like to do?"

"I'll come with you guys to Rukongai," he replied after a slight hesitation.

Rukia raised her eyebrows in surprise. Usually, Ichigo would have run away from any mention of shopping! "It's not as if I have anything more exciting to do," he said defensively. "I would like to have a look around Rukongai, I always stay in Sereitei when I come to Soul Society."

Rukia could not say anything to that, and they set out.

Ichigo, indeed, was not hot about the idea of shopping. However, he did not want to miss any opportunity to be with Rukia, to try to get her in the right setting and mood to talk to her. He doubt that they would get that time during their shopping spree, but still, he wanted to spend as much time as possible with her.

Rukia and Uryuu were in deep conversation about her "shiro maku", the main ceremonial dress, then her "uchikake", the kimono which she would wear over the white bridal kimono for the wedding reception. Ichigo watched her as she talked animatedly, her violet eyes shining with excitement. He felt a tickle of fear at the thought that this _could_ be the last time that he would be enjoying such mundane things as being dragged for shopping with her. He could not help the scowl that crept up his face at that thought. _I would not let that happen,_ he thought ferociously.

Catching the scowl on his face, Rukia smirked. "Oi…are you sulking about this shopping spree?" she asked, looking up at him. "You could have gone with Karin and Renji, you know."

"And watch her sparring with the Pineapple head? No thanks," Ichigo drawled. "The shopping seemed lesser than the two evils!"

Rukia rolled her eyes. "Come on, admit it, you wanted to come. You love shopping…!" she teased. "Remember how you always ended coming with me to the shopping malls in Karakura?"

"Yeah, yeah, I always accepted because a midget like you would, for sure, get easily lost in the crowded malls!" Ichigo shot back.

As reply he got a hard kick in his right shin. He had not seen that coming, and he stumbled in pain. "Hey!" he yelled, "You need to outgrow this by now!"

He cursed while hopping around, waiting for the pain to subdue. _Her kick is as wild as ever!_ he groaned.

"When you stop calling me midget, I will!" Rukia retorted.

Ichigo only mumbled under his breath.

**XOXOX**

Some hour later, his shin still tender from Rukia's administration, Ichigo was seated in an old shop, along with the others. Tsujishirō Kuroemon was seated across them. He was an old man, with very sharp eyes and raspy voice.

_How can such an old man be weaving any thing at all?_ Ichigo thought, as Kuroemon was asking Rukia about Byakuya.

"Uryuu will be making my dress," Rukia told the old man as the conversation had moved off from Byakuya.

Tsujishirō Kuroemon peered at Uryuu, noting his attire. "This white suit…you must be a Quincy!" he exclaimed.

"Yes, I am," Uryuu replied, as usual the note of pride very obvious in his voice.

"Hmm…A Quincy making the bridal dress of a Shinigami…" the old man mused aloud. Uryuu felt his hackles rising at that. Was the man implying that the Quincy was working _for_ the Shinigami?

Before he could say anything, Kuroemon continued, "This is surely the sign that time has changed drastically. You, the youth of now, are sure a sign of unity. A Quincy and a Shinigami, friends to this point." He smiled warmly at the group, and Uryuu relaxed.

"Okay, let's get to work," the old man said briskly. "I have a collection of exclusive sets of fabrics, complete with Obi and veil. My stock is in the store room at the back. We will bring the sets here so that you can make your selection in comfort." He motioned them to follow him.

Unlike the others, Ichigo was not keen of spending hours to look at fabrics. "Hey, if you don't mind, I'll have a short look around the neighborhood while you guys are at it," he announced. The others nodded and he left the shop.

When Ichigo returned back to the shop about an hour later, after having scouted the area, he found Uryuu, Orihime and the old man sitting at the low table, lots of boxes surrounding them.

"Have you guys finished?" he asked, feeling grumpy about the length of time this was taking.

"Rukia has already selected the main bridal gown and some few others, now we need to select for the uchikake – the reception kimono," Orihime said.

The store was like a real cavern of Ali Baba. There were rolls and rolls of fabric, in varying shades and hues and designs, lying around. The most exclusive fabrics sets, though, were preciously kept in boxes which were stacked in shelves rising as high as the ceiling. Each set was as beautiful as the other, the group had discovered, as they uncovered the exquisitely embroidered silks from the tissue paper folding them. It had been like opening treasure chests.

Rukia was still in the store, alone; she had spotted a box on the highest shelf, and was in the process of retrieving it. She was up the ladder which they had been using to access the higher shelves, perched on the highest rind, standing on tip toes while at the same time precariously balancing her body so as not to fall. Her hands were stretched to the maximum to enable her to reach the shelf, and she managed to slowly inch the box towards her.

"Oi, Midget, where are you?"

Rukia gave a yelp of surprise as Ichigo's sudden loud voice startled her. The box, which she had carefully managed to slide off the shelf, was shot through in the air as she jerked in surprise, freeing its contents in the action, while she simultaneously lost her footing.

"Watch out!" Ichigo shouted as he finally saw her, but it was too late.

Arms still flailing in the attempt to regain her balance, Rukia felt herself falling from her high perch, back first. She cried out and cringed as she waited for the impact.

But instead of the hard ground, she felt strong, warm arms catching her falling weight. Her impact, though, made Ichigo land down hard on his butt, his arms still holding her tightly against him. And as if to top it all, blue, green and golden thread brocade silk fabric landed in a jumbled mass on them, the contents of the box finally reaching the ground as well.

For one second, they both stayed immobile, winded from the fall, in a semi seated position with Rukia at the top. Then slowly, Ichigo became aware of their proximity, bodies and limbs tangled into each other.

"Got you!" Ichigo rasped, finding that he could not use his voice properly.

Rukia, whose head was pressed against his chest, felt the rapid drumming of his heartbeat as she laid stunned, suddenly incapable of movement. Her head was totally submerged under the mass of the silk fabric. Shaking herself out of her dazedness, she raised her head from his chest while at the same time wiggling the fabric off her face. Free of the visual confinement, she looked up to find blazing amber eyes _very_ close to her own. Instantly, she felt her own heartbeat accelerating. Ichigo's arms impercibly tightened around her; their eyes locked.

For the time of some heartbeats, but which seemed like hours, a silence enveloped them. Ichigo was the first one to speak.

"It's the one." His voice was husky and his eyes had darkened as he watched the beautiful face with the widened, violet eyes, framed by the vibrant blue and green colors of the silk fabric.

"Huh?" Rukia squeaked, her eyes growing even wider, the violet orbs more pronounced against the fabric.

"This color suits you," he said softly.

A clatter of steps was heard, as Uryuu and Orihime rushed through the door. "What…?" Uryuu came to as stop, as he watched the scene in front of him.

Suddenly realizing their positions, Rukia quickly scrambled to her feet, shaken.

"We heard a crash," explained Orihime, "are you ok?"

"Umm…I fell down from the ladder, but I'm all right," Rukia quickly explained, then busied herself by picking up the fabric from the floor. Ichigo remained silent as he stood up.

Carrying the fabric and the box, Rukia left the room quickly.

The blue and green fabric set was packed, and after having paid for their purchases - Uryuu and Orihime bought some fabrics, too- they set back for Sereitei.

**XOXOXO**

When they returned to Sereitei, Karin, Chad and Renji were already at the 13th squad, waiting for them. Karin excitedly told Ichigo about her sparring match with Renji.

"Fighting here in soul society is totally something else!" she gushed. "Being surrounded by soul particles really take one's strength into another level!"

Renji smirked, still very impressed at how strong the teenage girl was. She had managed to get the upper hand of their combat, and short of going into his Bankai form, Renji had lost that match. He was a bit miffed; but knowing how hard Karin had worked for the past years, moreover having having Urahara, Yoruichi and sometimes Ichigo as teachers, and not forgetting that she had the power of Shinigami in the blood being Isshiin offspring, he realized that he should not have been surprised by powers. She was a Kurosaki, after all.

"Is this very enthusiastic, young lady the little Kurosaki-chan that I've been hearing about?" Kyouraku Shunsui, captain of the 8th division, said, looking interestingly at Karin as he and his fukitaicho, Ise Nanao, appeared.

Karin looked at the new arrivals in interest. Same as for Ukitake Taicho, she immediately took a liking to the dark long haired, flowery cloaked captain.

As they were chatting, a hell butterfly appeared.

Renji touched it to read the message."It's the commander general, he wants to meet you and Karin," he informed Ichigo.

"What for?" Ichigo wondered aloud, puzzled.

It was not unusual for the old man to want to meet him when he was in Soul Society, but it was always for briefing of missions. As there was no mission this time, Ichigo was surprised at the summons. He was not happy at the prospect of facing the old man so soon.

He was well aware about the strict rules against human and Shinigami relationship; his father had been banned from Soul Society because of this. But Ichigo had avoided thinking about the commander's reaction if ever things between him and Rukia fructified. He needed to cross that bridge first, before thinking about the consequences. When and if the time would come, he was willing to fight the whole Soul Society if needed, and bear the wrath of the old man; though he really hoped that it would not come to that. He keenly hoped that the commander would take the facts that he was half Shinigami, plus the role he played in the war against Aizen, to be more lenient.

Ichigo sighed. All this would apply if, only if, he managed to win Rukia over. _Provided that Rukia shared my feelings_, he thought, his heart sinking to his foot. There was no need to jump the guns so soon.

_Take things stepwise,_ he told himself, like a mantra. _1 step at a time._ Right now, stressing about the commander's wrath for something which was quite far from happening was counterproductive, he thought ruefully.

Uryuu announced that he was going to his room to start on his work, now that he had the fabrics in hands. Orihime decided to accompany him, to help him if needed. Rukia and Renji had to return to their respective office, so they both left as well, while Shunsui invited Chad over his squad for chat and a drink, much to the displeasure of his fukitaicho at the idea of her captain drinking at this hour.

Since Ichigo knew his way to the first division, he and Karin immediately shunpooed their way over there.

**XOXOXO**

Karin looked in awe at the commander's face as she and Ichigo stood in the large office, in front of the desk of Yamamoto Genryuusai. _He **does** look like a thousand years old! _she thought, looking at the old man's wrinkling face and weird long beard tied in a spiral pattern.

Ichigo composed his face into a bland look, knowing how perceptive the old man's stare could be and not wanting his face or eyes to give anything away.

As he greeted them, the Commander could see the slight nervousness of Karin. "Please be at ease, this is a welcoming meeting," his old voice resonated around the room. "I wanted to meet you, Kurosaki Karin, the latest addition to the Shinigami. You have been spoken very highly by Kisuke Urahara and Shihoin Yoruichi. " He looked shrewdly at Karin, seeming finally satisfied after having subjected the squirming Karin a long searching look which seemed to last for ever.

"Hmm," he said, "you do have the strength of the Kurosaki, from what I can see. And you seem to have inherited the same brash attitude as your father and your brother here."

Both Karin and Ichigo immediately scowled at that. The Commander humphed as he watched the identical scowls on the faces of the two siblings.

"I expect great achievements from you, same like your brother and your father, though. May you always choose the right path," he said quite severely, before adding in a more complacent tone, "Welcome to Soul Society; feel free to ask anything you require from my fuki-taicho."

After a few more pleasantries, Ichigo and Karin were dismissed.

After the two left, the commander got deep in thoughts. He hoped that the uneasiness he had felt since Kurosaki Ichigo had come to Soul Society was just a false warning. He may be very, very old, but he was neither senile, nor a fool. He has not forgotten a single detail about the time when that young Kurosaki had barged in Sereitei, kicked everybody's ass so to speak, broke all the rules of Soul Society, stopped the Sōkyoku and saved Kuchiki Rukia from execution, practically in front of everybody's nose. So, when it concerned Kuchiki Rukia, Yamamoto Genryuusai was VERY wary about Kurosaki Ichigo's motivations.

Thus, when he learnt that the young man was coming to Soul Society so many days early from the wedding, he had been troubled. The boy's face had given nothing away, yet he still felt uneasy. He could not put anything past these Kurosakis!

He dearly hoped that there would be no mishaps, because if really the boy had something up his sleeves, the Commander had no idea which laws would need to be applied. The Kurosaki kids were unique cases; they were half Shinigami- half humans, offspring of a Shinigami Captain, with Captain levels reiatsus of their own... There was no precedence of such case in the history of Soul Society. And furthermore, Soul Society owed their survival to the Kurosakis, both father and son. Had they not stopped Aizen when they did, Soul Society would have been doomed. The old man gave a sigh. He really hoped that there was nothing brewing up.

As Ichigo and Karin made their way back towards the 13th Squad, Ichigo was breathing a sigh of relief. _That went ok_, he thought. The commander had seemed to be more interested with Karin. Ichigo did feel the commander insistent look on him as well, but since nothing was said...he shrugged mentally.

By the time the two returned to the 13th squad, it was already late afternoon. Chad, who was back already, and Orihime, who had taken a break from helping Uryuu, along with Rukia, were hanging out in the terrace overlooking the 13th squad garden.

"What did the commander want?" Rukia asked, curious.

"He wanted to meet Karin mostly," replied Ichigo.

"Ah," she nodded, before standing up. "If you guys are okay with it, we can go to the 10th division," she said, "I have some papers to drop over there; Rangiku-san has been asking about you guys, she wanted to meet you. We can go to have something to eat from there."

Karin immediately perked up upon hearing that they were going to the 10th division. Though she had decided that this visit in Soul Society would be concentrated on her training and helping out Ichigo where she can, she had been wishing that she could meet Toushiro soon.

The plan was readily approved by the others, as Hitsugaya Toushiro and Matsumotto Rangiku were good friends to all of them. Orihime immediately went to fetch Uryuu.

Ichigo felt a bit frustrated, though. The day was almost over, and he had yet had the opportunity to get Rukia alone for long enough to set the proper mood to have a talk with her. He could not as well find an opening to ask her aside, he felt it would be too awkward. He finally decided the best course of action was to let things go as they were; it was better to tread safely for the time being.

**XOXOXO**

In the 10th squad, a snowy white eyebrow was twitching dangerously; a sign about an imminent outburst. Hitsugaya Toshiro was at the end of his wits, as he was so often when it concerned his fuki-taicho, to his utter despair.

_Where could that wench woman be?_ the young captain was furiously wondering. He was seated at his large desk, having just finished the umpteenth reports, with another bunch in need to be completed stacked nearby. He had warned the cheery blond woman that she needed to complete her ever pending paperwork, he badly needed those reports completed by that afternoon. He had hoped, in vain, he realized now, that she would do her share of the work; at least today of all day, so that he would have had some free time to be able to meet Karin.

He had been aware of the arrival of Ichigo and the others to Soul Society, but he had barely had any free time to go and meet them. Since the previous evening, he had been taken up with a lengthy Captain meeting which lasted till very late. Then, this morning there had been a squad meeting which lasted till noon. And to top it all, when he had returned to his office with another lot of urgent reports, Matsumotto had been nowhere to be seen; she had not even touched the work of the previous meeting. As the reports were urgent, it had been left on him to do the work. Now, it was already late afternoon, and he has still not completed all of them. At this late hour, he doubted whether he would complete the work in time be able to meet Karin.

He felt bad that he had not yet been able to visit her. It was her first time in Soul Society, he would have loved to be able to personally show her around.

Karin was among the rare good friends that he had. He really enjoyed her company, she was the only person with whom he can _really_ be his own age -though even she herself did not know this fact. Being the youngest captain in the Gotei 13, Toushiro has always had to prove himself. He has never had the luxury of being anything but the highly responsible, mature and adult Shinigami that a captain should be, so that he could be taken seriously despite his young age. But with Karin, he found that he could easily slip into a juvenile, carefree behavior. It was always nice, for the time of a soccer match most of the times, to let go of his responsibility of a captain and be the teenager that he still was somewhere very deep in his heart. At first, it had irked him terribly when Karin used to tease him whenever he would do something too teenage, but with time, though he still outwardly huffed, he in fact secretly enjoyed the freedom of being carefree.

They were good friends, so naturally he had wanted to spend some times with her while she was here in Soul Society; but he would never let that crazy fukitaicho of his know that he had been _wanting_ to meet Karin, because Matsumotto, in her romantic craze and matchmaking europium, would make her own twisted interpretation of this fact. He shuddered at the thought of what she could do. She would no doubt yell on the roofs that he wanted to meet Karin, and would surely tease him mercilessly for the rest of his days.

The sound of opening doors jerked him from his thoughts.

"Matsumotto!" he growled, his voice menacing with upcoming repercussions for the fukitaicho, "Where have you been since the morning?" he barked.

"Taichoooooo! Still with that paperwork?" came the sing song reply of Matsumotto Rangiku, ignoring her Captain's question. "Surely you would have finished them by now? You must hurry up, they will be here soon now," she rattled on.

Toushiro's eyebrow shot up again, eyes flashing and a vein pulsing angrily on his temple. "What do you mean? Who are 'they'?" he growled. "And YOU were supposed to be doing all these work, not ME!" His irritation was obvious.

"Taichooooooo! I forgot to tell you, I asked Rukia to bring our Karakura friends over for a drink," the blond curvy Shinigami said, adopting an innocent look. "They should be here any minute now!"

Toushiro ire dropped for a second and his eyes widened with surprise. _Maybe I WILL get to meet Karin after all,_ he thought, very pleased at the prospect. He realized that Matsumotto was looking at him keenly, a smile hovering around her mouth.

"I'm sure you would like to meet Karin chan, err?" she winked.

Glaring at her with all the anger he could muster, the young Captain pushed a bunch of files towards her. "I've saved you this bunch to finish," was all he said as reply, in a tone forbidding any argument.

Rangiku pouted, but she readily sat down to do the work. She knew she should not push her captain's buttons further. Her young taichoo did complete almost all of the work, so it was the least she could do, she thought with a dramatic sigh.

Half an hour later, Rukia and the group arrived at the 10th squad.

"Yo, Toushiro. How are you?" Ichigo was the first one to greet the young captain as the group entered the office.

A vein popped out on Toushiro's forehead. "It's Hitsugaya's taicho for you, Kurosaki!" he growled in annoyance.

"Yeah, sure, Toushiro," Ichigo smirked at the riled up Captain.

Karin followed Ichigo inside. As always, she could not help the inner rush of breath as her eyes met the startling image of Hitsugaya Toushiro. He always managed to make her lose her inner composure, though she was sure to NEVER show it. She covertly, quickly skimmed her eyes over him: the pure white hair which seemed to defy gravity as they stood up in spikes, those unusual teal colored wide eyes, the serious and deep expression that he usually bore, the handsome features of his face…

The past years had brought a huge change in Hitsugaya Toushiro's appearance. He was no longer the short boy that he had been, he had grown by at least 1 foot. Adolescence major growth spurt has taken it's toll on him, though it took 7 years in his case, where for a human boy it would have taken much less time. He could now boast to be able to look down on more of his colleagues, though admittedly mostly female, compared to how previously EVERYBODY seemed to have been looking down at him - except maybe Yachiru of the 11th squad.

"Hi Toushiro!" Karin greeted, grinning at him easily, making sure that none of her inner thoughts reflected on her face.

"Hey Karin!" Toushiro greeted back, walking towards her. Though Toushiro did not openly smile-he nearly never did that anyway- his eyes did light up in welcome and pleasure at seeing his friend.

"Oi !" the irritated voice of Ichigo cut in, "How come SHE does not get the Hitsugaya- taichooooo lecture?"

Toushiro glared at the orange head Substitute Shinigami in annoyance, but could not come up with a proper retort.

Karin quickly spoke up, "Ichi-nii, we are mainly soccer buddies. Surely you don't expect me to call him 'Hitsugaya Taichooooo' while we are running after a soccer ball?"

Rangiku's eyes gleamed as she followed the conversation, but she had the sense not to tease her Captain right then, not with Ichigo present. She would enjoy doing that later, she thought gleefully. "Hello Karin-chan! It's so nice to see you here, in Soul Society!" she said instead, beaming instead.

"Nice to see you too, Rangiku-san!" Karin smiled back; she had always liked the cheery fukitaicho.

"Orihime! Great, to see you too!" Rangiku squealed as Orihime found herself hugged against the older girl. "I've heard that you and Ishida-san are engaged! Congratulations to both of you!" Rangiku turned towards Uryuu. Orihime dutifully showed her the engagement ring.

While the others were chatting, Karin had a quick look around the office. It was a pleasant feeling to be where Toushiro spent most of his time. She felt awed seeing him in his own territory and within the setting of the formal atmosphere of the office. In fact, she felt quite intimidated with this new Toushiro, who, in his white Haori and in this formal environment, looked every inch like a captain of Gotei 13. He sure was a far cry from the soccer buddy she is more used to, back in the living world. It put him into a different perspective from the teenage boy that she had become used to, the one who she always took the opportunity to tease.

At the urge of Rangiku and Toushiro, the group seated themselves all over in the available places, making themselves comfortable to spend a nice evening amongst friends.

They were shortly joined by Renji, who had brought Yumichika and Ikakku with him.

"We heard that there was a party here!" Ikkaku exclaimed gleefully, as he greeted the group. "So, Ichigo, when can we have a sparring match?"

Ichigo inwardly groaned. He could never understand the fervor of the 11th squad for sparring.

"Since Taicho has heard about you being here, he is excitedly looking for you. You better watch out for him!" added Ikkaku, making Ichigo groan even louder.

Every time Ichigo came to Soul Society, he had to be on the watch for the bloodthirsty Kenpachi Zaraki, the captain of the 11th squad. Despite the years, that man had still not given up on his ferocious pursue of Ichigo for a rematch of their first and only fight. As Ichigo was not crazy enough to want to fight that man ever again, it was always a hide and seek situation with the 11th Captain.

"_I_ would like to spar with you, if you don't mind," Karin spoke up.

"Oh yes, we heard you are one of us now," chimed in Yumichika. "But are you sure you want to fight this one here?" he asked, pointing to Ikkaku. "That would surely not be a beautiful match…"

Ikkaku glared at Yumichika, while Karin laughed. She was used to the two, having met them quite a few times in Karakura during missions. "I would really like to have all the training possible while I'm here," she said.

"Any time, Karin. Just let me know when you are free!" Ikkaku replied.

"Hey, beware, this is my little sister you would be sparring with," Ichigo stepped in, the idea of Karin sparring with these crazy guys not so much to his liking.

"Ichigo, you should not worry about Karin," Renji said before Karin could berate her brother. "She is good."

"Okay, sake time!" chimed in Rangiku, as she brought her stock of sake bottles, much to Toushiro's exasperation. Ikkaku, Chad and Yumichika were the only one to take up the offer, as the others declined.

Very soon, night fell in Soul Society. Toushiro asked the group to stay over for dinner. Rangiku and Ikkaku, even though a little tipsy, were the one who went to get the food. Their meals finished, the friends were splawn randomly in the office, the atmosphere comfortably relaxed and cheerful, as the friends continued to hang out together.

Sitting opposite to Rukia, Ichigo watched her as she chatted with Orihime. In this cozy setting, among their closest friends, it was so natural and seemed so _right_ for him to be with her. He felt a deep emotion welling up his stomach as he watched her, the girl for whom he had such strong feelings, for whom he got stronger and for whom he could go beyond his limits; yet to whom he could not find the right way and the exact words to convey his feelings. Seeing her so close, yet so out of reach, was very hard.

But he could not rush into things. Even though he had just a few days, even if it was a race against time, he had to do things correctly. He could not run the risk of jeopardizing his chance of winning her.

Rukia felt a wave of nostalgia washed over her, as she sat there, enjoying her friends' company. She watched all these people, the ones with whom she had gotten close during the recent years, thinking about all their adventures and the times that they had faced deaths together.

_Would I still be able to keep the same bonds with them?_ she thought.

She suddenly felt the tingling sensation of being observed. Almost compelled to turn her head, she looked around and met warm hazel eyes watching her. She felt unexplainably flustered, as Ichigo watched her, his expression unreadable. That was the moment when usually, she would have smiled or quirk an eyebrow questioningly at him, or just simply turned her head away casually. But right then, she felt frozen to the spot. She found that she could not pull her eyes away from those intense eyes. Her brain screamed at her to break the gaze, but her body would not react; the eye lock lengthened. She felt a heat creeping up her face, before pulling a final will power, she managed to drag her eyes away.

_What was that? _she thought, shaken to the core and her heart drumming against her chest. It had been like earlier, in the fabric shop, where her body had felt incapable of obeying her brain. _Why am I breaking NOW?_ she thought frantically. Why was she feeling so sensitive to Ichigo? _I must be having what they called pre-wedding jitters,_ she thought, for her senses to be so much on the overdrive. _And what was it with Ichigo?_ She had no plausible explanation for his unusual behavior.

Ichigo watched, almost mesmerized, the blush that crept up Rukia's face after their eye lock. His senses reacted to the sight, he felt a responding heat creeping up his face. In the past, he had always worked hard on not being too obvious when he would look at her. He had always _stolen_ looks at her, he had never done it so openly. But now he had nothing to lose, practically. _The time to hide is past behind, _he thought, shaken.

The loud laugh of Rangiku jerked him from his musings. The moment passed, his mind got back with his friends again.

At about 9, a hell butterfly flew in the office and fluttered around Renji. Reading the message, Renji stood up. "I've got to go, it's Taichoo. He is asking me to meet him at the Kuchiki manor to discuss some things."

"This late?" Ichigo wondered aloud.

"Unlike in the living world, the Gotei 13 does not have any formal working hours," smirked Renji.

Rukia immediately stood up as well. "I'll come with you. I have some things to do at home as well. Sorry guys, I'll call it a night too," she said. "I'll see you all tomorrow."

Ichigo watched helplessly as Rukia and Renji left. But all in all, he was not too stumped. Even if he had not managed to talk to her yet, he was at least sure that there was none of the tension of yesterday left between them. He hoped the next day would be more fruitful. After Renji and Rukia left, the rest all decided to call it a night too, and they parted.


	4. Chapter 4

It was mid morning, on the third day of the Karakuran's stay in Soul Society. Ichigo and Chad were roaming aimlessly around in streets of Sereitei. They did not know in which squad they were exactly, since all the quarters looked identical anyway in Sereitei, but they knew for sure that they had wandered quite far from the 13th Squad. They had been walking since they left the 13th squad after their breakfast.

The day had started quite badly for Ichigo. Rukia had come to meet them as usual in the morning, but she had been quite in a hurry. She had not lingered around, and had informed them apologetically that she would not be able to spend the day with them, as she would be taken up the whole day by work. She had to do the handing over of her files to the new Shinigami who would replace her in her current position. The idea that he would not have some time with her had darkened Ichigo's mood considerably, seeing that it was the third day already and he had not make any progress in his endeavor so far.

After Rukia's departure, everybody had parted ways: Uryuu had, as expected, gone to his room to immerse himself in his dress making, Orihime had gone to meet Rangiku who had invited her over to her quarters for some girls' time, and Karin had set off to meet Toushiro. That had left Ichigo and Chad at a loose end, so they decided to take a walk around.

The weather was excellent, the sun shining brightly in the blue sky, but Ichigo's mind was too preoccupied to enjoy it. Chad could sense that his friend was somehow tensed, so he kept his usual silence, talking when only necessary. Ichigo was turning all sorts of scenario in his head on how to tackle his approach of _the_ subject to Rukia, but all of them seemed as unconvincing as the other.

"Chad," he said suddenly, "how did you confess your feelings to Sephora?"

Chad, being who he was, did not seem surprised by the question.. He thought for a while about how he and his girlfriend got together, before slowly replying, "It was a gradual, there was no rush. We did not formally declare that we had feelings for each other, it just happened."

Ichigo fell in a gloomy silence at this. _That's the easiest way for love to happen, _he thought. Why should one go through the _terror_ of declaring his feelings out of the blue and have the risk of being rejected?

"Sephora was the one to take the first step towards anything more…consequent. So I had it the easy way," continued Chad, a slight blush coming to his cheeks as he thought of those happy memories.

Ichigo sighed. Even with Kyoko it had been easy. _She_ had been the one to call him the next day after the party, and he casually proposed that they went out for a coffee at the end of the call. From there, the rest had just easily followed through. And anyway, there had never been any declaration or whatsoever in that relationship. They had just been two people dating; they had never talked anything about love. He had not been in love with her, so the need for anything confession did not even arise.

Whereas now…

A Shinigami, wearing a weird flat hat, suddenly appeared in front of them, jerking him out of his dark thoughts.

"Kurosaki Ichigo," the man said, "you are requested to come to the communication room at 12th squad. Your father, Kurosaki Isshin, awaits you for a call from the living world. He has also requested the presence of Kurosaki Karin." The Shinigami paused, waiting for Ichigo's response.

_He must be a messenger,_ thought Ichigo. What could his father be calling about, he wondered, slightly worried. He hoped that there was nothing wrong.

"Thank you for the message," he replied to the Shinigami. "My sister must be at the 10th squad at the moment, with Hitsugaya Toushiro. Could you please inform her about the call?" he requested.

The Shinigami nodded and was about to move off, when Ichigo remembered that he had no idea where they were and where the 12th squad would be. He quickly asked for directions, and after having made sure about which way to go, he turned towards Chad.

"You go ahead, Ichigo, I'll continue my walk around. We meet later at the 13th," Chad immediately told him. Nodding, Ichigo shunpooed his way towards the 12th squad, which was not far from where they were actually.

**XOXOXO**

Karin was at 10th squad, with Toushiro giving her a quick tour. She had been ecstatic when the previous night, before parting, Toushiro had informed her that he would be free for a couple of hours the next day and would be happy to show her around.

"If you do not have anything else planned, of course," he had finished.

She had not had anything planned, but even if she had, she would have re-scheduled, she thought to herself.

So, here she was, enjoying the company of Toushiro while visiting all the various compounds of 10th squad, including its training grounds and dojos. It felt was quite impressive to see how all the Shinigami would respectfully greet Toushiro. Up till now, she had been mostly used to how the gang, that is, Rangiku, Ikkaku, Yumichika and Rukia would usually treat him- with a little bit more of familiarity. But here, it was something else; all the 10th squad Shinigami they had met so far had greeted him with deep reverence.

"Wow Toushiro, I must admit that you are very impressive in the image of a Taicho over here, mush more so than when you are in missions in Karakura," she teased, after another Shinigami bowed and greeted him.

Toushiro slid a glance at her. "Well, hierarchy etiquette is very important here in Soul Society," he shrugged.

_That, I have noted,_ Karin thought wryly. As she looked around, she was again struck by the ancient feeling of the place. Being from Karakura, a modern bustling town littered with skyscrapers, the difference here in Sereitei was extreme; the calm and serene atmosphere, the ancient architectures of the buildings, and the ancient way of living…She felt transported back in time by thousand of years! It was a wonder that the Shinigami who had to come to the living world for missions had adapted so well in the modern, up to date setting, she thought. Well, apart from a few occasional hilarious mishaps, that is.

They were standing in a wide training arena, when the messenger Shinigami appeared out nowhere, same as he did with Ichigo, and conveyed the message about Isshiin call waiting to Karin. He left as suddenly as he appeared, before karin could react.

"Err, but I do not have slightest idea where the communication room is!" Karin frowned, as she stared at the empty space where the messenger had been a second ago.

Toushiro promptly proposed to take her over.

"Oh, but I do not want to disturb you, just ask somebody else to accompany me!" she said hastily, sure that as a captain he must have more important things to do than accompanying her to the 12th squad.

"It's ok," drawled Toushiro, "I am free for some another couple of hours anyway."

**XOXOX**

Ichigo was the first to arrive at the 12th squad. He went in the main building's front room, and was immediately motioned to the back by one of the Shinigami. As he followed the man, he passed numerous rooms which were loaded from floor to ceiling with monitors and huge complicated looking blinking control panels. He was quite impressed by the technology he saw, never having been in the 12th squad before and never guessing that Gotei 13 could be equipped with such up to date technology. He was lead to a room at the back which contained only one huge screen, similar to the one which was found at Urahara. The screen held the blurry life size image of Isshiin. The 12th squad Shinigami immediately left, leaving Ichigo alone to talk in privacy.

"Hey Dad!" greeted Ichigo, happy to see his father.

"Hi there, Ichigo my boy!" Isshin greeted back cheerfully. "How are you doing?"

Before Ichigo could put a word in, Kon, in his human Ichigo's body, immediately appeared next to Isshiin. "Ichigoooo!" the mod soul exclaimed. "How is Nee-san?"

"Hi Kon, is everything all right over there?" Ichigo asked, ignoring the question. "Dad? How is Yuzu?" he addressed Isshin, seeing that Yuzu was not with them.

"Oh don't worry, we are all fine here, Ichigo!" Isshiin smiled. "Yuzu is fine, she is out with her friends, so she could not be here, but she sent her love. We just wanted to know how you are."

"Yeah, we expected to hear from you sooner!" put in Kon.

"So, how are you guys doing over there?" Isshin asked. "And where is my darling Karin?"

"We are fine, Dad. Karin is on her way."

"And how are _things_ progressing? It's the 3rd day already, so we were wondering…" Isshiin's concern was obvious even via the blurry image.

Ichigo was silent at that, his face quite glum. "Well, there's not much progress yet," he finally said.

"Hmm." Isshin looked at the glum face. "Well, it's good to tread carefully, Ichigo. But don't take too long. There are not many more days left."

"Yeah, Dad, I know that!" replied Ichigo, miffed, not being able to hide the slight annoyance in his tone. Did his dad really think he was not aware of that fact?

"But how come you have not made any progress yet?" Kon stepped in again, "What's holding you?" He was almost jumping up and down in his indignation. "And where is Nee-san?"

"Hey!" rasped Ichigo, irritated. "Things are complicated, ok? More complicated than I expected. So don't be so pushy!"

"What's so complicated about it?" Kon spluttered and shook his finger accusingly at Ichigo. "You were just supposed to go to Soul Society, confess your feelings, grab Nee-san and bring her back! What's so difficult in doing that?"

"Hello Kon, still as loud and whiny as ever, I see…" suddenly drawled Karin's voice.

Ichigo, who has been turning red in anger at Kon's outburst, swerved his head around to see Karin walking in the room.

Toushiro was standing at the door, an astounded look on his face.

**XOXOX**

Some minutes later, Toushiro was waiting for Karin outside the 12th squad main building, after having left the communication room for the two siblings to talk in private. His mind was still processing what he had just overheard. He had certainly not meant to listen on the conversation, but as he had accompanied Karin to back room, Kon's loud voice had been impossible to miss. He and Karin had reached the room in time enough to hear Kon yelling out that tell tale last sentence, and it had been enough for Toushiro's sharp mind to put two and two together to get the whole picture.

As he mused over the conclusion he had reached, he realized that he should not have been so surprised. He had witness the obvious closeness between Ichigo and Rukia during their various missions together; even for someone as blank as him in the romantic field, he had felt the chemistry which had always seemed to flow between the two. But now, to have overheard that Ichigo was planning something was not good news at all to him.

Toushiro had always taken his duty as a captain VERY seriously; to him, rules and regulations was very important, and he had very little leniency to those who break the rules of Soul Society. But here in this case, he was at a blank end. As a captain of the Gotei 13, he did not know what he should do about what he had overheard. Clearly, Ichigo had come to Soul Society with the intention of stopping the wedding of Kuchiki Rukia. How did he actually planned to do that and what will be at stake for Gotei 13, would that be a threat to Soul Society? All these were very unclear yet to the young captain. Thus, Toushiro found himself at a dilemma on what should be the actions to take.

He was still working this out in his mind when Ichigo came out of the building. The two young men silently stared at each other, trying to size each other's intention.

"I should have realized that you had something up your sleeve, Kurosaki!" Toushiro growled after some minutes of tense silence. "What exactly are your intentions?"

"Hadn't anybody taught you that it's rude to eavesdrop on people's conversation?" Ichigo shot back, smirking as he saw Toushiro's immediate angry reaction.

"I did not eavesdrop and you are avoiding the question, Kurosaki!" Toushiro almost snarled.

"This is of no concern to you, Toushiro," Ichigo calmly said. "I am not breaking any rules as far as I know."

"It is against the law to attempt overthrow of the balance of Soul Society. To do so is treason," Toushiro cited. "And as a captain, it is my duty to stop you…"

"Overthrow the balance…? How am I overthrowing the balance of Soul Society? Don't you think you are going a bit too far, Toushiro?" Ichigo growled in turn, scowling angrily.

Toushiro had the grace to look chastised at that.

"Try to use your common sense for once, instead of reciting laws from your captaincy books!" Ichigo snapped.

'Still, Kurosaki, watch your steps…" Toushiro started, only to be interrupted by Ichigo.

"Toushiro, please stay away from this," Ichigo's voice was soft, his face calm but his eyes held a hard glint as he looked at Toushiro. "Don't butt your nose in this or you'll have me to deal with." With that, he turned and shunpooed away.

"And ME to deal with as well," Karin's voice echoed.

Toushiro's head snapped around to see Karin standing by his side, her expression identical to what Ichigo had, calm face but hard eyes.

"Karin!" He looked at her, partly angry, partly exasperated.

"Toushiro, stay out of this. This is a matter of the heart, your rules and regulations have nothing to do with it."

Toushiro frowned deeply as he gave a defeated sigh. "But what _are_ his plans? As a captain of the Gotei 13, I do feel concerned if it means a threat to Soul Society."

"Ichi-nii doesn't have any plans…" replied Karin, her eyes worried as she looked in the direction to which Ichigo had shunpooed away. "You can't plan these things, can you? He is just going with the flow…" she almost whispered.

Toushiro frowned as he considered his stance on this, but he had to concede that as things were, he could not do anything anyway. It was true that as far as things were, Soul Society was not in any threat…yet. So, as long as there was no breach of the security of Soul Society, he would let things stay as they are. But he would definitely keep an eye on Ichigo, he decided.

_Why did I have to overhear that conversation?_ he thought as he gave an inner groan. The idea of the two angry Kurosaki siblings on his back was definitely NOT something he wished upon himself. He looked at Karin, noting her rigid stature and the slight scowl on her face as she looked straight ahead.

"Anyway, there's not much I can do at this stage. I just hope he does not do anything stupid," he said. "So, what do you want to do now?" he asked, not wanting her to remain angry.

"Well, do you want to spar?" Karin replied, turning to look at him.

_And face your wrath? No way!_ thought Toushiro to himself. "Why don't we continue with the tour? I'll show you more of Sereitei" he said aloud.

Karin smirked, guessing why he preferred not to spar with her at the moment. "Okay," she agreed.

**XOXOXO**

Ichigo went to 13th squad, still reeled by the conversation he had with Toushiro and some with his Dad and Kon. All in all, everything was pointing towards a rapid action on his part; he needed to take some steps very soon. He was not worried about Toushiro informing anybody else about all this, because Ichigo was sure the young captain was not the type to go behind backs to tell upon people. If Toushiro had a problem with what he was intending to do, Ichigo knew that the young captain would come to deal with him about it face to face. So for now, he had a respite in that aspect.

Chad was waiting for him, and since it was already past lunch time, they decided to go and find something to eat in the canteen. Uryuu shortly joined them, needing to take a short break from his work. Orihime was apparently still with Rangiku, Karin must still be with Toushiro, Rukia presumably still taken up with her work, so it was only the three of them for lunch.

"How's is your work progressing?" Ichigo asked Uryuu, munching his food unenthusiastically as he was not too hungry.

"These are the first bridal dresses that I'm making, and I want them to be perfect for Rukia," Uryuu replied. "But I have made good progress and they will be completed soon," he continued a little pompously, correcting his glasses. He looked at Ichigo, noting the slight dejected air. "And you, how are… _things_ progressing?"

Ichigo looked at him quizzically before continuing to eat, not bothering to reply. He has had his dose of answering to people for today, he thought, annoyed.

Rukia came in the canteen right at that time, preventing Uryuu of pursuing the subject further. As she spotted them, she hurried to their table and slid in a chair.

"Hi guys. I only have some minutes to get something to eat," she said hurriedly. She eyed Ichigo's plate, pulled it towards her and quickly started to eat.

"Hey!" Ichigo spluttered in annoyance, only to be cut by a puppy stare from the violet eyes.

"Please…you can go get yourself another plate, I do not have enough time to get one for me," she said mouth full and in her most sweet voice.

Ichigo huffed and went to the counter to get another plate. By the time he was back at the table, Rukia had almost finished eating.

"I'm so sorry to not being able to spend the day with you guys," she told them regretfully.

"It's okay, Rukia-san. We understand," replied Uryuu. Chad nodded silently.

"I've still got so much to do, and tomorrow is my last working day before I start with my 3 weeks vacation; I really need to finish most of the things by today," she sighed, standing up. "See you guys at 7.00 tonight at the Kuchiki house, okay? I don't think I'll see you before that, I'll need to go home directly as soon as I finish here."

"Hey, try not to kill yourself by overworking, Midget." Ichigo frowned as he watched her weary eyes.

"Ha, as if!" she huffed, then her eyes softened. "I'm not made of porcelain, you know, Baka!" With a quick wave, she hurried out of the office.

"You cannot expect the opportunity to talk to her to fall out from the sky, Kurosaki," Uryuu's dry voice broke Ichigo out of his thoughts, as he had been staring blankly at the now empty door through which Rukia had exited.

"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked, turning his head to looking at Uryuu.

"You are not going anywhere by playing this waiting game. If you want to talk to her, _create_ the opening and the time to do it," Uryuu said, looking at him seriously. Chad watched on, silent.

Ichigo decided that it was time to drop the pretence. "You have seen how busy she is all the time!" he exclaimed frustratedly.

"In this case, invite her for a drink or something! I saw a small tea shop at the outskirt of Sereitei yesterday on the way to the fabric shop; invite her for a tea over there!" Uryuu suggested.

"Well, that's not possible for today. You heard her, she's busy, she'll go directly home afterwards," Ichigo was almost talking to himself, but the idea of getting Rukia out of the Gotei atmosphere, somewhere where they could talk without any disturbance was perfect.

"Then be sure you do it tomorrow!" Uryuu said exasperatedly.

Ichigo nodded quietly. This was yet the best idea since he had come to Soul Society, he thought.

The friends hanged out together for another couple of hours, before Uryuu decided to go back to his work.

"Hey, thanks, Ishida." Ichigo quietly told him.

Uryuu looked at him almost sarcastically. "I should be annoyed that all the work I'm doing on the dresses could be for nothing, Kurosaki. But then, if you do succeed, just make sure that they'll be for use soon," he said before leaving.

**XOXOX**

At 6.45 that evening, the Karakuran friends were all standing at the front office of the 13th squad. They were waiting for Renji to arrive, as the plan had been that Renji would come to meet them, then they would all go together to the Kuchiki Manor.

Uryuu has had a surprise for all of them. Earlier, he had asked his friends about what they had been intending to wear for the dinner.

Ichigo had looked at him, as if he had asked an Einstein level question. "What do you mean? It will be these!" he had replied, pointing to his usual Shinigami clothes.

Karin, too, had pointed to her Shinigami garb. "I have not brought any other clothes other than Shinigami kimonos," she said. Nobody had deemed it important to ask her how come she had not brought any dressy attire, seeing that she had supposedly come to a wedding in Soul Society.

"I have another similar pair of pants and shirt, so I'll wear that," had quietly announced Chad.

Uryuu had turned up his nose in apparent exasperation to all their replies. "We are going to the Kuchiki manor for a formal dinner with nobles, not to the canteen at the corner!" he had exclaimed.

He had disappeared in his room to return back some minutes later with a few garments hanging over his arm; kimono, to be more specific. He had given one to each of them; a navy piece for Ichigo, a bottle green piece for Chad, a grey pale grey blue piece for Karin.

"We need to wear…kimono?" Ichigo asked incredulously as he looked the navy garment he held up.

"It's a great idea!" Karin firmly said. "Thank you, Uryuu san!" She looked at her beautiful pale grey blue kimono, which had charcoal grey and silver designs at the bottom and sleeve hem, and a charcoal colored Obi. "But when did you made this?" She asked, awed at how good the kimono was.

"Oh, I made these today, they are simple designs, so no big deal!" Uryuu replied airily.

So, finally, that was how they all found themselves donning kimono, as they waited for Renji to go to the Kuchiki manor for the dinner. Ichigo looked very distinguished in his navy colored set, the dark formal color giving him a more pronounced masculine look. Karin looked very good too, her dark hair and eyes and pale skin beautifully complimented by the grey blue and charcoal hues of her kimono. Uryuu was wearing a brown piece, and Inoue a cream colored with red and blue designs and red Obi. Soon Renji joined them, wearing a kimono as well (to Ichigo's relief) of grey color, and the group set out in the direction of Kuchiki manor.

**XOXOX**

As 7 O'clock approached, Rukia was having great difficulty to calm her nervousness. She had managed to contain her annoyance and deep irritation though, and hoped that the evening would go without any hitch.

She had left the 13th squad at about 5.30, coming home directly as she had scheduled. She had been looking forward to the evening at the idea of her close friends meeting Haruko, and hoping that her friends and her soon to be husband would click. The first thing she did as she got home was to go in the kitchen, to ensure that the cook was ok in the preparation of the food for the menu which they had gone through together on the eve. But when meeting the cook, she had learnt that there had been some variations on the menu, and the cook had also informed her that he had received instructions from Kenji, the head man servant, to cook for 5 additional people. But he did not have further information than that.

Not happy about this last minute change, Rukia had gone in search for Kenji to know more. But instead of Kenji, she found Byakuya, who had proceeded to tell her that there was going to be 5 additional guests to the dinner, which comprised of the 3 Kuchiki elders, Chuyo, Hirashin and Mitachi, and the parents of Haruko, Shotoku Akira, the head of the Shotoku family, and Shotoku Miho, his wife and mother of Haruko.

Rukia had been totally stumped by this news. "But…How?" she could not finish the sentence, but her displeasure at the news was obvious.

This dinner had been supposed to be for her friends only! Byakuya would have been present, of course, but the idea had been to welcome her Karakuran friends who had come for her wedding, and to introduce them to Haruko; in short, an intimate party comprising of close friend only! How come the Kuchiki elders and Haruko's parents were now included?

Byakuya looked her expressionlessly, and Rukia immediately felt ashamed for her impertinence.

"I'm sorry, Nii-sama," she said in a contrite voice.

"Chuyo sama learnt about the dinner, and she thought it was only proper to invite the parents of Haruko as well," offered Byakuya as explanation. Even though he did not elaborate further, Rukia got an idea of what must have happened. She was sure after she had invited herself and the two other elders, Chuyo must have _demanded_ that the other Shotoku be invited.

As she left to her room to get ready, Rukia could not help but feel angry at the insertion of the elders in her evening. She would have happily cancelled the whole thing with Ichigo and the group if she could, but now it was too late. Her idea of a good relaxing party was thrown to the air, as she thought apprehensively about the stiff ordeal ahead.

The Karakuran group and Renji arrived at the Kuchiki manor at 7 sharp. Apart from Renji, who was used to the place, the others looked around in awe. As they all made their way to the house, they admired the huge garden through which they went, which was a magnificent masterpiece in itself. Through the fading summer sun, they could see numerous sakura trees which adorned the space, the grounds immaculately tendered, and a few other trees and huge rocks scattered artistically about and a thin stream rustling along completed the picture of perfection.

"Wow, this is totally something else!" Karin whispered, as she looked around opened mouth in awe.

"Isn't it?" Ichigo said in a low voice. He had been to the Kuchiki manor once, but he was still impressed by the place.

"Good thing that we are dressed appropriately," whispered Orihime, she too being the first time that she was coming to the Kuchiki manor.

As they reached the house, they all looked interestingly at the large one storeyed building, awed by the ancient grandeur emanating from it. It was of traditional Japanese architecture, made of wood and shingled roof.

Rukia came to greet them at the main entrance door. She was looking fabulous in a rust red kimono, with pink sakura designs on brown stems and a brown Obi around her petite waist. The color contrasted nicely with her white skin and her black hair. Her usual bang had been tied away from her face, a golden comb holding it in place at one side, giving her a sort of contained look, Ichigo could not help thinking as he looked at her. She looked the accurate image of a noble lady, as she stood there, gracefully straight, to greet them.

"You all look so good!" she exclaimed, studying their kimono.

Her eyes took in the navy kimono which Ichigo was wearing. "Traditional kimono really suits you!" she told him almost in surprise. Apart from his Shinigami hakama, she had always seen Ichigo in western clothes. Seeing him in a kimono was something new. The kimono hinted his cut shape, suggestive more than showing off his excellent physique, the dark color accentuating his bright hair and hazel eyes._ He looked so utterly masculine and..._ She could not finish her thoughts as her eyes met hazel eyes, which had darkened as she had been giving him a look over. She jumped in embarrassment, realizing that she had been staring.

"Please come in," she said hastily, beckoning them inside.

They all trooped into what looked like an equivalent of a living room. The wide room was very sparsely decorated, but the discreet opulence was evident, as they looked around.

"Welcome to the Kuchiki house," the low voice of Byakuya resonated in the room, as the paper covered sliding doors found at the back of the room opened to reveal the man himself. He looked at all of them, his face devoid of any expression, as usual.

Renji, Uryuu, Orihime and Chad immediately bowed their head and respectfully greeted him back.

Ichigo looked straight in his eyes. "Byakuya," he greeted back, with a nod.

Despite the years, Ichigo still refused to call Byakuya by his Taicho title or by the respectful 'sama', as his nobility title demanded. And, as usual, if Byakuya was riled with the casual greeting of Ichigo, his calm expression did not bear any hint of it.

"Nii-sama, this is Kurosaki Karin, Ichigo's little sister." Rukia introduced Karin to him, as they had never met before.

Karin looked at the man she had so often heard about. She had heard the stories about how he had been so willing to have Rukia executed; Ichi-nii always called him "totally stuck up Byakuya" with disdain, Yoruichi shishou called him "little Byakuya" with mischief, Rukia always "Nii-sama" with such reverence and Renji "Taicho" in respect. But none of them had ever mentioned that THE Byakuya was so _handsome_! She had always imagined the man to be a big, cruel looking, dry, pompous, old noble guy! Sure, he did have a cold aloof air about him, his expression icy calm and his stance regal, but still, he was so incredibly handsome… She bowed her head in greeting, as Byakuya regarded her calmly.

"So you are Kurosaki's sister," he finally said.

"Yes," Ichigo butted in, a note of pride very obvious in his voice as he came to stand beside Karin.

Byakuya looked at both of them, then turned to the others. "Please come in," he invited, and he and Rukia lead them through the sliding doors.

As they followed the 2 Kuchikis, Ichigo could hear a low hum of voices coming from somewhere at the back. He was intrigued. He had got the impression that apart from the Haruko guy, they would be the only one invited, but apparently there were to be more people. They were lead to the wide terrace which gave directly to the back garden. There were already 6 people there, Ichigo immediately counted, and his eyes zoomed to the youngest man present.

_This must be Haruko…_he thought, breathing in as he looked at the guy, a pulse beating in his jaw.

He snapped his attention back to Byakuya who was doing the introductions, learning that 3 of the old people there were the Kuchiki trio elders, and the remaining two were Hirako parents: Shotoku Akira, the head of Shotoku family and his wife, Shotoku Miho. Then, as he had correctly guessed, Byakuya introduced the younger man as Haruko.

Glancing sideways at the others, Ichigo saw faint blushes on Orihime's and even Karin's cheeks.

_Good gracious,_ Karin was thinking as she looked at Haruko,_ Ichi-nii sure has a solid competition here! _She had barely surfaced over how handsome Byakuya was, and now…_this_? _Soul Society sure held among the most handsome men I've ever come accross,_ she thought, as she looked at the incredibly handsome man that Haruko was. Coming from Karin, this was quite a feat, as the young girl was not the type to gush over young men.

Tall, excellently built, looking around 25 to 30ish, long blond hair falling gracefully beyond his shoulders, cerulean blue eyes, high cheekbones, sharp pointed nose well defined lips...Haruko was the image of handsomeness. Same as Byakuya, he held himself with a regal bearing that denoted his status as a noble. But, contrary to the Kuchiki leader, his face held a smile as he greeted the group upon being introduced.

Ichigo looked over at the guy, dimly noting the excellent built and the sharp intelligent look his eyes held. From what Ichigo had learnt before, Haruko was more of a political type rather than a warrior type, even though he did have high reiatsu level being from one of the noble family. So he wondered how come the guy had such a good athletic build, if he was supposedly taken with politics. _Wasn't political guys supposed to be fat and heavily balding guys?_ he thought, scowling. Feeling an elbow kicking his side, he turned to see Karin looking at him.

'Hide that scowl, Ichi-nii," she told him dryly in a low voice, ensuring that nobody else heard her.

Ichigo immediately schooled his express into a neutral one.

"I'm happy to meet Rukia-san's friends," Haruko said, his voice deep and beautifully toned, as he nodded at each of them.

"We're glad to meet you too, Haruko-san," smiled Orihime, after a silence which none of the others seemed in a hurry to break.

The 5 older people all had a haughty air as they unsmilingly greeted the Karakurans and Renji. They all held the same arrogant air that Byakuya had when Ichigo first met him, looking quite down their nose at the young group. After the first polite greeting, they continued with their own conversation, talking only among themselves and only including Byakuya, Haruko and sometimes Rukia. They were not really openly rude, but still, to the youths who were used to a more open social gathering, the snuff was apparent enough.

The Karakurans shuffled around, quite uncomfortable at the austere atmosphere of the 'party'. Even the socially very prim and proper Uryuu seemed quite short of polite conversations, as the young group tried to maneuver around the awkwardness which seemed to have settled. Renji as well seemed to feel out of place. Finally, it was easier to stay among themselves and not make any effort to talk with the noble set.

Rukia inwardly groaned at the obvious uncomfortable air of her friends. It was what she had feared, and she felt guilty.

"Guys," she said softly and her tone apologetic, "I'm sorry, _they_ were not suposed to be in the picture," she said in a low voice so that she was not heard by the older group.

"It's ok, Rukia-nee," Karin whispered back, seeing how guilty Rukia looked, "it's quite an…experience to be among nobles, anyway."

Orihime and Chad smiled encouraging at her as well, while Ichigo and Uryuu looked at the Kuchikis and Harukos, feeling wary at what awaited them for the evening.

About 5 minutes later, which seemed like hours to the friends, Kenji came to announce that dinner was ready to be served. Breathing a sigh of relief, Rukia lead the way to the dining room.

The dining room, same as the first room they've been in, was sparsely decorated, but there was this sense of old grandeur present in the simplicity of the room. They were all seated on cushions on the tatami floor, around a wide low wooden table. Byakuya sat at one end of the table, while Haruko Akira was seated at the opposite end. Then the rest was seated in between. Rukia was seated besides Haruko, and Ichigo sat opposite to them, having Karin on one side and Orihime on the other.

Dinner was soon served, and the conversation was very subdued. Orihime was the only one of them who was trying hard to maintain a general conversation, the others preferring to eat in silence or just murmuring polite acquiesce. Rukia looked around at her friends contained air, and could not help but compared the atmosphere of the previous night, at the 10th squad, where they had been so relaxed and at ease in each others company. It was such a far cry from the relaxed ambiance that she had wished for, she thought sadly.

Being the first time that Ichigo was mixing with so many nobles at once, and so cold to boot as that, he was hit suddenly by how hard it must have been for Rukia to have come to live in the Kuchiki family. This was the environment that she must face daily in her life, he thought. He had the biggest difficulty in equating the Rukia he knew, the mischievous, spitfire, fiery tempered, always arguing Rukia he knew, living in this uptight cold environment, surrounded by these type of people.

Byakuya at least, even though still cold outwardly, has changed over the years. Ichigo knew that in his own way, Byakuya had come to care for Rukia and was very protective of her. But the Kuchiki elders were something else. In fact, Ichigo had never realized that the elders were so much present in Rukia's life. As he watched them, Ichigo noted their expression and mannerism, which were proofs enough of how much they were the typical strict blue blood noble type people. Ichigo remembered how Byakuya had told him that his marriage with Hisana and Rukia's adoption had been considered as rules broken in the Kuchiki clan, and looking at the old Kuchikis, Ichigo was not surprised with that fact. In fact, he felt a respect for Byakuya, to think that he had dared go against _these_ people's wishes!

Finally, it must be said to be an achievement that Rukia had turned out as she was, he realized. To think that for the past 40 years, she had been exposed to such type of people, and still retained her spontaneity, her down to earth attitude and extrovert outlook. True, she sometimes had her 'noble' bouts, but all in all, she had always be as close to a normal girl as possible.

"So, from which squad are you all?" Shotoku Akira asked, the first time that he bothered to have a direct conversation with the group.

Renji was the first one to reply. "I'm from the 6th squad, and the fukitaicho under Kuchiki Taicho".

Ichigo hesitated, and looked at Byakuya, not knowing what to reply. He did not want to commit a faux pas by saying anything that he should not.

"The rest of the group are from the living world," Byakuya quiety announced. "They are all very important allies of the Gotei 13, and had had a major hand in the victory of the war against with Sosuke Aizen."

"Oh..." Akira replied, after a short silence. "I did hear about the _unusual _news of Gotei 13 having some humans as allies." He did not say anything else, but his tone did indicate that he did not approve of that fact.

"Oh, that's very interesting!" exclaimed Haruko, looking at the group with new interest.

He began to ask them questions about the living world, to which Rukia, Orihime, and Uryuu did their best to answer. Ichigo only participated in short comments and monosyllables.

"Oh, Rukia-nee, you should know that last month there was an exhibition in Karakura town hall about Chappy the Rabbit complete collection," Karin said.

At any other time, this would have gained a squealing reaction from Rukia. But right then, although her eyes danced with excitement, her voice was subdued when she replied, "That must have been wonderful!"

"Chappy the rabbit?" Haruko asked mystified.

"Chappy the Rabbit is a character which is very popular both here in Soul Society and in the living world," explained Rukia, her eyes shining as usual when she talked about her beloved Chappy the Rabbit. "There are all kinds of effigies for it: plushies, posters, cards, mugs, etc."

"An animal _character_? But isn't that very… juvenile?" asked Haruko with a hint of disdain in his voice. It took all of Rukia's willpower not to get into an obfuscated tirade about her beloved Chappy the Rabbit being called juvenile, but before she could muster anything,

"It's NOT juvenile. It's a very interesting character which draws millions of people towards it. My adult sister Yuzu affections Chappy the Rabbit a lot too."

Uryuu chocked in his food, while Rukia and Karin stared at Ichigo, their jaws hanging, both wondering whether they had heard correctly. Ichigo…defending Chappy the Rabbit? He who was always taking every opportunity to talk down on Chappy, who was the first one to call the passion of Rukia and Yuzu 'childish'? Even Chad was hiding a smile, while Renji looked at Ichigo, with raised eyebrows.

"Oh…I see," Haruko said, looking intently at Ichigo, assessing him. "But still, it is unusual for adults to be attaching to such characters, isn't it?"

Ichigo held the stare of the young Shotoku. "No, it's not that unusual," he replied silkily. "And it does not mean that these people should be looked down upon. There is no age to hold affection to anything and have fun." A subtle challenge entered the hazel eyes as the eye lock lengthened; challenge which Haruko did not miss and which made his eyes fill with speculation.

"So, in what field are you, Haruko san?" Uryuu quickly intervened.

Haruko broke the stare with Ichigo to look at Uryuu, his expression still speculating. "Oh, the Shotoku are in the governing of the finances of Soul Society. Right now I assist my father in this management," he replied slowly.

"Until the time that Haruko takes over the head of the Shotoku family," put in Shotoku Akira, joining in the conversation.

The talk successfully shifted away from Chappy the Rabbit, as Haruko talked a bit about his responsibilities.

"He has always been good at what he does." The note of maternal pride was clear in the voice of Shotoku Miho.

Orihime smiled at the woman. 'Rukia-san is a very strong Shinigami, she is very good at her work too!" the young girl said enthusiastically. "It's great that she gets to continue to stay at the Gotei 13."

"Oh yes, we could not refuse Byakuya-sama's request for Rukia to stay at the Gotei 13," Miho said softly. "But Rukia needs to understand that when the Shotoku new heir comes in the picture, her rightful place will be at home to raise and educate the baby, as is expected of a noble wife," she finished.

"And the Shotoku expect the next heir as soon as possible, so hopefully that will not be too long," Shotoku Akira's voice cut in again.

A heavy silence fell on the table at this. Rukia has stiffened, and she darted a glance at Byakuya, not knowing what to expect to see there. Beneath the calm façade, though, she thought she detected a flicker of surprise. Knowing that it would be of utmost impudence for her to say anything back right then, she bent her head wordlessly, her hands fisted on her lap.

"That's very true," drawled Kuchiki Chuyo in a haughty voice. "The role of a noble lady is a very serious one. It should be by the side of the husband and the heir, not in a battlefield."

Ichigo looked at the bent head of Rukia, his fists balling tightly on his lap while a slow anger rose within him. A sudden soft hand descended on his clenched fist, and looking sideways, he saw Karin discreetly shaking her head. Her worried eyes were enough to calm his anger.

"Isn't it terrible that Gotei 13 has to give up such excellent assets in the name of…indulging in wifely duties?" Ichigo said, not being able to hold himself and smiling sarcastically as he looked squarely at Chuyo.

The old woman's eyes flashed angrily as Ichigo held her glare unflinchingly, before Byakuya's calm voice cut through the tense silence.

"Who would like some tea?"

"Oh yes, I would!" Orihime immediately replied. "The food was excellent! You do have a great cook, Rukia!" she continued in her brightest cheerful tone. The others immediately murmured their agreement, and again the tense atmosphere was successfully diffused.

To the big relief of the Karakurans, it was not too long before the dinner was over and it was time to leave.


	5. Chapter 5

**First of all, a big thanks to my wonderful beta reader, Heaven Star ****:)) Thanks for your dedication and patience, I was impressed by your work!**

**Thanks to all the reviewers and to those who had put this story in their favorites.**

XOXOXO

The next morning, Ichigo stood alone at the front office of the 13th squad. He was waiting for Rukia to arrive to work; she was quite late. All the others were having breakfast in the canteen, but he had decided it was better to wait for her at the front office, wanting to intercept her so that he could talk to her before she got in the canteen with all the others around. He was determined to ask her for a drink at the tea shop as Uryuu had suggested - it was a great idea, that way he would be able to have a proper talk with her without interruption. Finally he saw her familiar frame at the distance, as she made her way towards the 13th squad.

"Hi, Ichigo," she greeted as she reached his side. Rukia was wary, wondering in which mindset Ichigo would be, unsure how things would be between them after the dinner last night.

"Yo, midget," he replied, softly. He could see that she looked tired, and had visible dark circles under her eyes but he refrained from commenting. He had something to do, and he did not want to get off topic.

Rukia was feeling too flatto feel her usual annoyance at him calling her 'midget'. She had had a horrible night after that disastrous dinner and had tossed and turned until very late, sleep eluding her. Among many things, she had been feeling bad about subjecting her friends to that dinner. She had slept in as a result and thus she was late to work.

"Where are the others?" she asked simply, looking around. She felt she owed them all an apology for last night.

"They're in the canteen having breakfast." Ichigo replied.

"And you're not with them?" she asked curiously.

"I'll join them shortly," he replied, but she noticed he made no move toward the building.

"So…do we go in?" she asked raising her eyebrow, "or maybe you have something else to do, so I should just join the others without you?"

She turned to go in to the building. She was already running very late, but she wanted to at least greet the others before turning in for work.

"Wait!" Ichigo stopped her before taking a breath and plunging in, "Hey, there's this tea-shop just outside Seireitei. I thought maybe we could go over for a drink later on today?"

Rukia turned to look at him, her surprise evident on her face at the unexpected suggestion.

"We've barely had time for a proper chat in the last few days," he quickly explained before continuing a tad nervously, "So I thought it would be a good idea."

Rukia looked at him suspiciously, and then her expression became wary. "Ichigo is this about what happened during dinner last night?" she asked quietly.

Ichigo couldn't hold back the frown which appeared on his face as the attitudes of the elders during the dinner came to his mind. But before he could say anything, Rukia continued,

"Are you intending to give me another lecture on my upcoming marriage? Because, believe me, that is the very last thing I want to hear about right now."

Ichigo winced inwardly at that, but he managed to keep his expression neutral and, looking intently at her, he said, "No, there won't be any lecture if you don't want one."

"Then why…?" Rukia asked, puzzled by the sudden invitation.

"Hey! Do I really need a reason to want to spend some time with you?" Ichigo exclaimed, his usual scowl appearing on his face.

"No, no of course not" she said hastily, slightly taken aback. "I would love to go for tea. But I've got a very hectic day ahead, so I won't be free until after work at about 5 in the afternoon."

Ichigo was not too happy about having to wait till so late, but he did not have much choice. "Okay for 5 this afternoon. I'll be waiting for you at the main office," he said, before warning, "Try not to be late…"

"Ok." Rukia replied. She felt a bit flustered, not knowing what to make of this invitation. True, they had gone for drinks and lunches and ice creams hundreds of times in the living world, but it had always been something unplanned, something done on the spur of the moment, whereas this time it felt somehow different. _He_ had _asked_ her, and there was a set time…it was almost like a…_date_, she thought, a shiver running down her back.

Two Shinigami walked by and Rukia remembered that she was very late and needed to get to work.

"I'll go to say hi to the others quickly before I start," she told Ichigo, before she walked into the building. Ichigo quietly followed her, and they made their way to the canteen.

The othershad finished with their breakfast when Rukia and Ichigo met them. Since Rukia was already late, she was not able to spend much time with them.

"I'm sorry for yesterday," she said looking around her friends before turning to leave.

"Rukia-san, you don't need to apologize for that!" Uryuu told her firmly. Even Ichigo acquiesced, while the others cheered her up.

"And I'm sorry for not being able to spend the day with you today, as well," she continued, before promising, "But tomorrow I'll have the whole day off, so I'll meet you guys here after breakfast to spend the day."

"Rukia, you don't need to apologize so much! You're getting married in just a couple of days, we understand that you're busy!" Orihime admonished.

"Okay, see you...later," she said hesitantly, not sure whether to openly direct that last comment toward Ichigo as she left.

Ichigo watched her leave, feeling a sense of anticipation for the evening. '_At last! Something solid to go on!'_ he thought.

Now, he just needed to work out what he wanted say, and he must definitely _not_ lecture her about the wedding; he had to make absolutely sure not to corner her or put her on the defensive. The more he thought about it, the more nervous he became.

'_Finally_,' he thought, '_I'd better not think too much about it, otherwise I'll be a nervous wreck before I even get there.'_

"So, here you are. I've been looking for you guys!" A feminine voice drawled, and they all turned around to see Yoruichi lazily making her way towards their table.

"Yoruichi-shishou!" Karin exclaimed, glad to see her, "You're finally here!"

"Yes. So, what have you guys been up to?" Yoruichi asked, as she sat down at their table.

After chatting for a while Uryuu stood up and announced that he needed to get back to his dressmaking. Yoruichi wanted to introduce Karin to Soi Fong, so the two of them left for the 2nd squad, leaving Chad, Orihime and Ichigo without anything specific to do, so they decided to have a walk around.

"Rangiku-san told me about a food market on the north side, maybe we could have a look around there later?" suggested Orihime. Since they did not have anything else planned, Ichigo and Chad agreed to go with her.

XOXOXO

A couple of hours later, Karin was sprawled on the floor in one of the training dojos of the 2nd squad. She was panting heavily, having just sparred with Soi Fong, under the watchful eye of Yoruichi. Both Yoruichi and Soi Fong were impressed with Karin's performance, though Karin, despite having enjoyed the fight, felt she was more the brute strength type like Ichigo and Renji, rather than the close combat style of fighter like Soi Fong.

"As expected, your true strength really came out here, in Soul Society," remarked Yoruichi, coming to sit beside Karin as Soi Fon left the dojo. After a moment of silence Yoruichi continued,

"Karin, I think you are ready for your Bankai training".

Karin looked her, shocked and happily surprised. Yoruichi quickly specified,

"I am talking about the compressed style Bankai training that Urahara devised. It was one of the reasons why I wanted you to come to Soul Society, that Bankai training is best done here, where your power is at its maximum." She looked lengthily at her pupil, "Be warned, Karin, it's a very hard process. You only have 3 days to succeed; if you don't make it within the 3 days, you lose your Zampactou, and along with it your Shinigami powers. So, this is not something which you should enter into lightly."

_3 days…_, Karin thought. The difficulty of the task did not scare her, but thinking that she would have to be unavailable for 3 days made her hesitate. She wanted to be there for Ichi-nii in case he needed her, so the idea of being away for 3 days, especially now, when something was bound to happen, did not appeal to her.

"Yoruichi-shishou, I'm don't think I want to do it right now," she finally said, without elaborating further.

Yoruichi looked at her thoughtfully, but did not press her.

"Well, assuming that we would leave Soul Society on Sunday after Rukia's wedding ceremony, you'd have until tomorrow to start the training, in case you change your mind. So, let me know by then."  
Karin nodded and murmured, "Thank you, Yoruichi-shishou."

XOXOXO

In another part of Seireitei, Ichigo, Chad and Orihime was strolling about in the small food market, having already had lunch at a small food stall. A cheerful voice suddenly called out to them and, turning around, they saw Rangiku waving at them. The blond haired fukitaicho quickly reached their side.

"Hello! I have been looking for you guys!" she exclaimed, sounding very excited, "I wanted to let you know that you are all invited to a party tonight, at the 10th squad!"

"A party?" echoed Ichigo.

'_Oh great, another one,'_ he thought. It seemed that all they had been doing since they'd arrived in Soul Society was partying. Well, he would just refuse to attend this one, he thought - he had much more pressing matters to deal with. He was about to politely decline the invitation, when Rangiku continued,

"Yes, it's a bachelorette party for Rukia! We, I mean, the Soul Society Women's Association, are holding this party for Rukia. Everything has already been organized; all that's left is for all of you guys to show up!"

Ichigo's eyebrows shot up in surprise, "Bachelorette party?"

"Yes! You know, the pre-wedding parties thrown for the bride?" Rangiku said enthusiastically.

"I know what a bachelorette party is!" Ichigo quickly said, "It's just that I'm surprised that this tradition exists in Soul Society."

"Well, I learnt about it while I was in the living world, so I thought it would be a great idea to organize one for Rukia!" Rangiku explained.

"Ano, Rangiku san…are the boys being invited too?" Orihime asked dubiously.

"Er…yes? Of course they are - we couldn't leave them out!" Rangiku replied.

"Bachelorette parties are usually girls only parties, you know…," murmured Orihime before she saw Rangiku's face fall and quickly rectified, "But we do have mixed parties as well!"

Rangiku brightened again and was back to her old bubbly self. "Right, well, here in Soul Society we'll have a mixed party!"

"So, what time does the party begin?" Ichigo asked sourly.

"6 sharp at the 10th Squad. Everybody has been told already, you guys were last on my list because you don't get messages from hell butterflies."

"6 O'clock!" Ichigo almost shouted.

'_Just great,'_ he thought, his face darkening and his mind furiously working on the time frame. He and Rukia were supposed to meet at 5 and considering the time they would take to go to the tea shop…he didn't want to feel rushed!

'_Damn and damn,' _he raged to himself. '_It had to be today of all days!'_

"Rukia doesn't know about it yet – it's a surprise for her!"

Ichigo immediately snapped to attention at Rangiku's words. If Rukia didn't know yet, then maybe there was still hope. They could still go for their drink, and let the others look for her for the party. He was definitely not going to be the one to tell her about it!

"Er…how do you plan to get her come to the party?" asked Ichigo, innocently.

"Oh, Ukitake-taicho is taking care of that. He's going to ensure that Rukia arrives on time at the 10th squad!"

Ichigo felt his hopes plummet at that. Great. It seemed like nothing would go his way. Well, he would just have to ensure that he managed to talk with Rukia within the hour that they had. Who could know what could happen in that time? He had almost fearfully avoided thinking what the outcome of this tea talk might be, but he hoped fervently that he would succeed… Maybe the party would not even be an issue then. He felt a tiny bit guilty at that, seeing how excited Rangiku was and at the fact that she had already invited everybody, but he had too much at stake here to have the luxury of feeling guilty about it.

"Okay guys, I've got to go now - I have so much still left to do! See you tonight!" With that, a cheery Rangiku disappeared, leaving a scowling Ichigo behind.

Rangiku busily ticked off the list of things to do in her mind as she sped away towards the 10th squad. She had already enlisted the help of all of the members of the Shinigami Women's Associationfor the coming party. Though none of them had known what a bachelorette party was, as it was not a tradition in Soul Society, Rangiku had explained the concept and had convinced them all that it would be a great idea. They had all been very willing and happy (ready and willing _or _happy_ can't really have both_) to throw the party for Rukia. Since Rangiku had been to the living world more often than anyone else they had let her take the reins in the organization of the party.

Rangiku had planned mainly a casual get together, though she had also planned to bring out some kind of entertainment at the end. From what she had seen in the movies back in the living world, there were always naughty games at these bachelorette parties, she had not decided what that would be yet, but she did have some ideas in mind.

The funds for the party had come from 3 sources: from the Shinigami Women's Association, from Ukitake Juushiroo and, mostly, from Kuchiki Byakuya. When Byakuya had heard that they were intending to throw a party for Rukia, he had immediately offered to take financial charge, so they had more than enough funds to have a great party.

Still going through her list mentally, Rangiku checked the tasks:

The two sisters, Kotetsu Isane and Kotetsu Kiyone, along with Ise Nanao were responsible for the food and they were to make sure that everything was ready on time.

Kurotshuchi Nemu was responsible for the technical side of things: music and decorative lights. She was going to convince her father to lend her some of his equipment; tough task, sure, but she had assured Rangiku that she would do it.

The boys (Kira Izuru, Hisagi Shuhei, Renji, Ikkakku and Yumichka) were to set the place up and hang the decorations. The party was to be held in the 10th squad garden, which was large enough to hold the crowd that had been invited. The weather was just perfect for an outdoor party, as well. Looking at the time, she hoped that the boys had already started work, as it was already 2 o'clock in the afternoon.

Her job was to make sure that they had enough sake.

'_What would a party be without sake?'_ she thought.

She frowned, rerunning her list in her head again. She felt as if she was missing something important…

_Oh yes_! She remembered. She had yet to inform her Taicho about the party, and most importantly, that the party would be held in the 10th squad garden. Pouting, she hurried towards her squad, thinking over how she could tackle _that_ task.

XOXOXO

The usual vein was ticking in Toushiro's forehead. He swore that one day he would throttle that fukitaicho of his. He had been in his office, deeply immersed in some files, when he had heard loud voices, some bangs and a crash. He had immediately gone out to investigate the commotion. The 10th squad was usually a quiet squad - unlike, for example, the 11th squad his people were not usually loud for any reason. Heading in the direction of where the noises were coming from, he had come out in the back garden, to find a group of Shinigami, not even from his squad, loitering around. Well, at first it had seemed as if they were loitering about, climbing up on the few trees, standing on the boundary walls and generally making a lot of mess in his back garden.

"What's going on?" Toushiro had shouted, breaking up the happy chatter of the group.

Renji, Ikkakku, Yumichika, Shuhei and Izuru immediately stopped what they were doing to look blankly at the young captain.

"Er, Hitsugaya-taicho, hasn't Rangiku-san informed you?" Shuhei finally asked.

"Inform me of what?" Toushiro growled.

After a short silence Ikkaku muttered,

"Uh oh…"

And now here he was, glaring with all the heat that he could muster at his fukitacho.

"So, Matsumoto, _when_ exactly did you plan all this, and when did you intend to let me know?" he growled.

"Taichooooooo…" the blond cheerily said, "It was all so very sudden, and of course I intended to let you know! It's a very important party for Rukia - all girls _need_ to have this party before they get married!"

She pouted and continued, "Surely you're not hardhearted enough to take this away from Rukia?"

Toushiro only got more annoyed, "I'm not taking away anything!" he said defensively, "But I should know what's going on in my own squad! You could have _asked_ me before planning all this!"

"But Taichoo who else can do this for her if not us?" whined Rangiku. When Toushiro gave a loud sigh she knew she had won him over. All he said before getting back to his paperwork was,

"I expect everything to be spotlessly cleared away after this!"

XOXOXO

Rukia watched the time nervously. It was 5 already, and Ukitake-taicho seemed to be in no hurry to leave. He seemed to have so much to say, and did not seem to be fussed at all. She, on the other hand, did not want to be late for her meeting with Ichigo.

"Er, Ukitake - taicho, do you need me for anything else?" she asked when he stopped and seemed about to move.

"Why?" the captain asked, hiding his apprehension. Originally, his plan to get Rukia on time to the 10th squad had been simple: he was going to make sure that she stayed in the office until close to 6, before then pretending to have a very urgent file to drop at the 10th squad and asking Rukia if she could drop it off for him. But, today of all days, Rukia seemed to have been in such a hurry that she had finished all of her tasks early. And now, at 5, he did not have anything valid to give her to do. He was starting to feel really bad having to keep her back so late on her last day of work, just a couple of days before her wedding as well, but he hoped she would understand when she got to the party.

"Oh, well, I am supposed to meet…the others, we planned to have tea together." Rukia replied hesitantly, "And I'm sort of late already…"

"Oh."

Ukitake's mind raced. All her friends were in on the party secret, so surely any other prior plans they had made would have been cancelled due to the party. He gave her an apologetic smile and told her, almost cheerily,

"Well, Rukia, I'm sure your friends won't mind if you are a bit late, would they? I still have a, er, list to go through with you before you leave. So, please, if don't mind?"

"Oh, sure! It's ok, Taicho, no problem." Rukia replied quickly, though inside she groaned. She would never disrespect her Taicho by refusing work, but why today of all days?

Ichigo glanced for the umpteenth time at his watch. It was already 5.15, and no sign of Rukia yet. Just as he had feared, it seemed that Ukitake must be keeping her late with the intention to get her to 10th squad for the party on time. He decided he better go find her.

He found her still in her office, sitting at her desk and going through some files.

"Oi, Rukia…what are you still doing here?" he asked, making her jump. She had been so immersed in her own thoughts that she had not notice him approaching, not even his reiatsu signature.

"Ichigo! Oh, I'm sorry I'm late, but Taicho has some urgent files to go through with me." She replied, noting that he seemed impatient.

Ichigo groaned inwardly in frustration.

"Where is he?" he asked, not seeing the captain around.

"He's gone to get an important file from the archives." Rukia informed him.

"But…that would take ages!" Exclaimed Ichigo loudly. A few of the other Shinigami who were also present in the office looked up at his loud voice.

"Oh well, come on, I'm sure he won't mind if you leave…" Ichigo said in a lower voice.

"Ichigo! You don't seriously expect me to be drop the work Taicho has asked me to do!" protested Rukia, looking scandalized at the suggestion. Then she looked at Ichigo's scowl in amused exasperation, saying teasingly,

"Don't worry, the tea shop won't run away! We can still go later - it stays open until very late night."

'_But we don't have that time!'_ Ichigo thought getting more frustrated.

He had no choice but to wait for Ukitake to get back. One of the other Shinigami came over to discuss some file with Rukia, so Ichigo decided to sit in a corner to wait for her.

XOXOXO

It was only at 5:50 that Ukitake returned.

'Ichigo! What are you doing here?" Ukitake asked, surprised to see him there.

"Waiting for Rukia." mumbled Ichigo, stumped, having already given up on the tea idea.

"Oh." Ukitake thought for a moment, before calling out,

"Rukia! You can leave! I'll go through that report and if I find something important, I'll just send a hell butterfly to find you." Ukitake was pleased with himself for coming up with this great idea.

Rukia did not need a second invitation and Ichigo seemed to be on the edge enough as it was, so she hurried out.

Rukia stole a glance at Ichigo as they walked silently side by side. Earlier he had seemed to be in such a rush for their drink, but now it seemed that he was dragging his steps.

They had arrived at a green area a little way away from the 13th squad, when Ichigo stopped suddenly. Rukia stopped as well, and looked at him in surprise.

"Ichigo?" she asked, puzzled by his stop.

Ichigo looked back at her. A warm summer breeze ruffled their hair, as they stood facing each other, not another soul in sight.

'_I _have_ to do it now_,' thought Ichigo.

"Rukia…" he started, before pausing.

Rukia looked at him expectantly. After a short silence, he tried again, "I have to…I need to talk to you…"

Rukia was getting concerned by now. He looked so … _vulnerable_.

"Ichigo, what is it? You have been…unusual since earlier." she said, carefully. She hoped it was not because of her arranged marriage again.

Ichigo nervously raked his fingers though his hair, looked down at his feet and then looked back in her eyes again.

"Rukia….There are so many things I wish to say," he said softly, hesitantly.

Rukia watched him, feeling suddenly nervous herself.

"I—"

Ichigo was cut off by the sudden appearance of a hell butterfly, which swooped down and hovered in front of Rukia.

"Damn ! Not now!" exploded Ichigo.

'_Not yet,' _he thought, desperately.

"Rukia, please ignore it—" he tried to persuade her, but the butterfly hovered nearer to Rukia, almost getting in her face.

"Ichigo, it seems urgent - I can't ignore it!" Rukia protested apologetically after the butterfly had almost poked her eyes out before whispering, "I'm sorry." She looked at Ichigo and let the butterfly land on her fingers to read the message.

"Oh", she said as the butterfly finished delivering its message. "Ukitake-taicho has summoned me urgently at the 10th squad…"

She frowned. The message had said very urgent, but she wondered why her Taicho would be summoning her to the 10th. She looked back at Ichigo, who had his hands balled by his sides, his frustration clear on his face.

"Ichigo? I'm sorry, I need to go immediately."

"Rukia, I'm sure it can wait for a few more minutes!"

Rukia faltered and looked at him. She felt torn by her duty; but a mere few minutes more wouldn't be that much of a problem, surely. Then a second hell butterfly appeared.

"What's happening?" Rukia was alarmed now. Without saying anything further she quickly read the message; it was another summons, this time from Hitsugaya-taicho, saying it was urgent, again.

"Ichigo, I'm sorry, but I really need to go now!"

She definitely could not delay anymore, not after being summoned by two captains. She looked into his dejected hazel eyes, and she felt shaken. This was not like the usual Ichigo at all.

"Hey, Ichigo, it's ok, we can still go to the tea house later tonight, or maybe tomorrow? We have the whole day tomorrow to do that…"

Suddenly, she felt a heavy weight on her chest, and a painful lump appeared in her throat. She realized that instead of saying "we have the whole _day_", she wished so much that she could have said, "we have our whole _lives_." It dawned to her again that their close bond would most probably change after her wedding. Looking at Ichigo's eyes, she felt a strange desperation creeping up on her as well.

"Ichigo," she said in a low voice, unconsciously taking a step towards him. Ichigo's eyes flared as he watched her.

Ichigo was debating whether to tell her that the summoning butterflies were just to get her for her surprise party, so that they could longer to talk, when…

"There you are!"

A loud voice boomed nearby, causing both of them to jump. "Rukia-san, Ukitake-taicho needs you urgently at the 10th squad!"

It was Sentaro Kotsubaki from her own squad, almost bursting with his usual boisterousness.

"I'm sorry, Ichigo." she repeated, throwing a hurried look at him before moving towards Kotsubaki, telling him,"I just received the message, and was about to go."

Without saying anything more she shunpooed off towards the 10th squad.

Ichigo stood there, immobile, for while longer, before he dejectedly decided to move towards the 10th squad as well.

XOXOX

'_For a surprise party, it was definitely a huge surprise!'_ Rukia thought, as she stared around the back garden of the 10th Squad, stunned.

She had rushed to the 10th squad, to find the front office totally empty. She had gone in search for Ukitake, because she could feel his reiatsu around, though she had felt a confused mass of other reiatsu as well. Then as she had walked in the back garden, she had found a huge crowd of people, all standing facing her, with smiles on their faces. And a loud "Surprise!' had rang out.

It seemed the majority of the Gotei 13 was present. Rangiku explained to her that it was a surprise bachelorette party in her honor, for her upcoming wedding. Rukia had learnt about this tradition while she was in the living world, and she was touched that Rangiku had made such a big effort to throw her this party, and even more touched to see so many of the Shinigami present - even the captains!

The 10thgarden was beautifully decorated with lanterns and streamers. Soft music was floating in the air from the apparatus which Nemu had managed, miraculously, to coax from her father and everybody had a glass in hand and was happily chatting around. There were tables laden with food at several locations - it was a festive atmosphere.

'Thank you so much, Rangiku-san." Rukia said quietly, her eyes shining with the emotion she could not hide. She knew that it could only be Rangiku behind this.

"Thank you so much everyone!" she said loudly, her smile shining through.

Rangiku beamed. She moved to Toushiro's side, "You see how happy she is, Taicho! Isn't it worth all this?"

Toushiro had to concede that Rangiku had had a good idea, Rukia did indeed look deeply touched. Though the young captain gave a sigh as he wondered nervously how all this would end. Shaking away his dark thoughts, he decided it was better to just get something to eat.

'_Better to deal with things as they come,'_ he thought.

The party was in full swing when Ichigo arrived some time later. He spotted Uryuu, Karin and Chad in a corner and quickly made his way to them.

"Here you are, BOY! You've been hiding from me, haven't you?" the loud devilish voice of Zaraki Kempachi made Ichigo jump. "You owe me a match, Kurosaki!"

'_Of all the people, I had to bump into _him_,'_ Ichigo thought.

He was still trying to come up with a reply to the crazed 11th squad captain's question, when Unohana Retsu came their way.

"Zaraki-dono, surely you're not thinking about sparring at a time like this?" she asked in a very sugary sweet voice. Both Ichigo and Kempachi cowered inwardly at the super sugary sweet voice. Unohana Retsu had the amazing ability to be able to scare the daylights out of both Ichigo and Kempachi, though neither of the two would ever openly admit that.

'Er, no, I was just _suggesting_ to Ichigo that we could do it…some _other_ time." replied Kempachi a bit meekly. Then, giving both of them a nod, Kempachi swiftly moved off. Ichigo gave a relieved sigh before quickly turning and mumbling an excuse to the 4th squad captain and moved away to join the others. He settled in a corner, wanting to blend in with the walls, as he was definitely not in a mood to celebrate. Uryuu looked at him questioningly, but refrained from asking any questions.

Sometime later, Rukia joined them, but it was only very briefly.

"You knew about this, didn't you?" she managed to ask Ichigo quietly. He nodded. It explained his strange behaviour earlier, she thought, now understanding his frustration.

"Baka…We'll go and get that tea tomorrow." She said smiling at him.

"Make sure we do, midget." he said, softly, before Rukia she was dragged away by Rangiku. Everybody wanted to spend time with her, and as a result she had very little chance to talk with Ichigo again that evening.

Though many people had already left, the party was still going late into the night. Among the captains, only Unohana, Soi Fong and Toushiro remained, the rest having already left.

Rangiku, a bit drunk by this stage, had been waiting for this moment. Coming to stand in front of the remaining crowd, she clapped her hands for attention.

"Ok," she started, as everybody turned to listen to her, "in the human world, it is a tradition to have some fun events or games during a bachelorette party." An excited murmur rose from the crowd at that and Rangiku continued, "So, I have planned a quick surprise for you."

The crowd watched her with trepidation as she brought forward one of her male drinking buddies, a Shinigami from her own squad, whom she had managed to coerce into doing what she requested.

"Zetsu here will be stripping for us!" she announced triumphantly. She was rewarded with a short, shocked silence, while the poor Zetsu squirmed under the stare of the crowd. Toushiro sweatdropped and a loud indignant protest rose from the male Shinigami crowd.

Nanao blushed deep red, the two Kotetsu sisters seemed about to faint, Nemu looked blank, Soi Fong had a red hue on her cheeks, and Yoruichi had a wicked gleam in her eyes. Unohana looked totally unfazed, Rukia's mouth hung open in shock, and Karin was thinking about running away from there. Fast.

"Hey, Rangiku-san, why would _we_ want to watch a _male_ stripper?" yelled Renji, looking horrified. The others quickly supported his claim.

"Er…" Rangiku looked at the indignant and horrified faces looking at her and pouted, "Oh, okay, okay, this seems to be not such a good idea".

"Well, what about one of us girls doing the show then?" she suggested, looking pleased with herself for coming up with such a good idea. A loud cheer from some of the male Shinigami welcomed her suggestion.

"Yoruichi-san can do it!" she said looking at Yoruichi hopefully. The cheer went even louder. Eyes gleamed in excitement, and many even started to drool at the thought.

Nanao looked exasperatedly at Rangiku. The two Kotetsu sisters nearly fainted this time. Nemu still looked blank. Soi Fon looked at Yoruichi in protest. Yoruichi's eyes still gleamed; she did not seemed put off by the idea at all. Unohana still looked unfazed. Rukia looked flabbergasted.

Karin looked at Rangiku, thinking that the woman was really stone crazy,

"Rangiku-san…this is a _bachelorette _party." Rangiku looked at Karin blankly and Karin sighed before explaining, "Rukia is the bachelorette here. So, any game is supposed to be about _her_. And I doubt whether Rukia-nee would enjoy seeing Yoruichi-shishou, or any other female for that matter, stripping, would she?"

"Oh." Rangiku looked deflated. Her idea for the wonderful, naughty entertainment was quickly falling apart.

"Okay, there was this other movie in which the bride sold her kisses. You guys need to buy a kiss from Rukia!" Rangiku looked hopefully at the male crowd.

Ichigo felt a burning trail go up his stomach at the thought of _any_ of the guys buying a kiss from Rukia…

"Rangiku-san, no, please." Rukia immediately protested, firmly, her face red with embarrassment, "I won't do that!"

Ichigo relaxed his clenched jaw as Rangiku dropped the idea. She was beginning to run out of ideas by then, suggesting desperately, "A drinking contest?"

Again, apart from her usual sake companions, nobody was hooked on the idea. Finally Unohana seemed to take pity on the blond girl and suggested,

"Let Rukia express her love in as many ways as she can. She will have to prove how creatively she can love."

Rangiku looked dejected at the idea - it sounded so boring, not the fun game she had been looking for.

"Okay, let us spice it up a bit," drawled Yoruichi, "Rukia will have to declare her love in various ways to each man present here. We'll see how creative she can be towards each one of them." She looked sidelong at Ichigo, smiling her devilish smile.

The idea was more than willingly agreed upon by everybody. Rukia was not that hot on the idea, but she did want to deflate the mood by refusing. She was pushed to the front of the crowd, while everybody settled down.

"So, who goes first?" asked Rangiku cheerfully.

Renji came forward first, confidently strutting towards Rukia, grinning at her. Rukia looked up at him sheepishly, her mind blank.

"Go ahead!" Rangiku encouraged her.

'Er…um…Renji, I love you..?"

It came out more as a squeaky question and a loud jeer erupted from the crowd.

"Oh come on, Rukia, surely you can do better than that?" laughed Unohana.

"Okay, next!" shouted Rangiku. Yumichika was the next to be move forward.

Rukia looked up at him, thought for a moment, and then she smiled mischievously, "My love for you is so beautiful, Yumichika!" The crowd laughed and clapped approvingly.

"Okay, you are getting the idea now, Rukia!" laughed Yoruichi.

Ikkaku was the next one to go up to Rukia, "You are the bulb that lights up my heart, Ikkaku!" Rukia said. When Ikkaku walked back to his laughing friends, they rubbed his shining scalp.

Slowly, one by one, all the men approached, to get their love confession from Rukia, with much laughter and cheering from the crowd. Rukia had now warmed up to the idea, and her eyes lit with mirth as she improvised funny love confessions one after the other. She was really enjoying herself. Even Toushiro had his own moment in the limelight, as Rukia impishly imitated his intense growl to say,

"I love you!"

"By the pride of the Quincy, I love you." Rukia recited solemnly to Uryuu, her hand on her heart, making the Quincy blush and Orihime giggle.

And finally, it was Ichigo who found himself being pushed towards Rukia. He was the last one left having hung back the whole time, preferring to watch from afar to see how all this would play out.

"It's your turn, lover boy." Yoruichi whispered in his ear before dragging him forward and pushing him towards Rukia.

Yoruichi's push was quite hard, and he stumbled forward, only just managing to balance himself in time so as not to crash into Rukia. Rukia still held the previous mischievous smile she had from Uryuu when Ichigo stood facing her. He looked into her violet eyes, fidgeted a bit, and then rubbed the back of his head, smiling awkwardly. Even if it was a stupid game, he was suddenly nervous. He looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to speak, his heart rate starting to speed up.

Rukia looked at him, and suddenly her 'til now fully imaginative mind went blank. The mischievous smile slowly ebbed away from her face as she looked into the unusually solemn hazel eyes and she found that she could not formulate any words. She racked her brain to say something, anything, but nothing came. She felt a rush of heat starting from her ears and creeping up to her cheeks; her lips parted slightly as her breathing accelerated. The silence stretched, and as she continued to look into those eyes, she felt her surroundings zooming out. Suddenly, it did not seem like a game anymore.

Even the crowd had gone silent, and the electricity in the air was suddenly palpable. Ichigo felt a blush creep up his own cheeks as he watched her, a sudden impatient anticipation gripping him.

Rukia finally moved, and walked slowly past him. Ichigo stiffened in surprise, feeling a huge let down. He did not understand; was she finishing the game without any words for him…?

Then he felt a kick on his shin. Followed by a soft,

"Baka!"

His eyes widened, her voice echoing in his mind. By the time he had regained his senses and turned around, Rukia was gone, merging in the crowd and out of sight.

Rukia had only one thought in mind - she needed to get out of here, fast. She felt so confused, her heart filled with a torment she could not contain anymore. She desperately needed to be alone, needed to get a grip on her chaotic emotions. Her small frame made it easier for her to thread her way among the dispersing crowd and she forced a false smile onto her face as she met teasing comments. Reaching the far end of the yard, she met Rangiku.

"Rangiku-san, I apologize, but I need to leave now." she informed the tipsy blond girl hurriedly, "I had something urgent planned to do at home, and it's very late already, so I hope you understand…"

"Oh sure, Rukia, I understand!" Rangiku cheerfully replied.

"It's been a great party, Rangiku-san, thank you so much, again." Rukia bowed to her before almost running away from the place. She wanted to be as far away as possible so as to avoid bumping into Ichigo. He was the last person she wanted to face right now.

Ichigo was still trying to squeeze past the teasing group which had assembled and, by the time he had emerged, Rukia was nowhere in sight. He scanned the whole area, but she was nowhere to be seen. Spotting Rangiku, he quickly went up to her and enquired about Rukia.

"Oh, Rukia has just left!" Rangiku informed him. 'She—"

But Ichigo was already gone.

XOXOXO

As Ichigo rushed out, he finally saw her silhouette a short distance away, in the narrow streets between the quarters leading away from the 10th squad.

"Rukia! Wait, please!" he called out. But she refused to heed him, and began to trot. Ichigo broke into a run in response, and caught up with her.

"Rukia!" he grabbed her hand, pulling her to a stop. "Stop, please. I need to talk to you…"

She struggled to release her hand, but he instinctively yanked her gently towards him. The street lanterns were bright enough for him to see her face clearly and he could see that she was distressed.

"Ichigo," she appealed almost frantically, her voice shaking, "Let me go!"

"Rukia!" His voice was low, his eyes boring into hers and he refused to let go of her hand. For a tense instant, they faced each other, bodies within touching distance, despaired hazel eyes searching the violet eyes looking up at him.

"Rukia…" he whispered hoarsely, not being able to say anything other than her name. Then, in the next instant, he moved his head forward and his lips pressed agaisnt hers; and he was kissing her.

Rukia froze as their lips made contact, her chest tightening in shock and surprise. Ichigo slowly snaked his free hand around her, drawing her into a close embrace as his lips continued their feverish exploration of hers. Rukia felt her mind drain of any coherent thoughts and she felt incapable of snapping out of her stupefied state. She felt the tip of his tongue stroking her bottom lip and, before she could react, he drew his head away. He did not release her, though; his mouth hovering merely centimetres away from her own.

Time seemed to stop as their gaze locked, both of them breathing hard, their breath mingling.

"Ichi-go…" Rukia whispered in a choked, quivering voice, her eyes wide violet pools as she looked at him. She stood rooted to the spot within his warm embrace, her stomach churning.

Ichigo's eyes lowered to watch her trembling lips, almost mesmerized before he returned his gaze to her eyes, his own eyes _burning_ as he watched her silently.

This time Rukia was prepared when his lips met hers again. As her eyes closed, she did not even bother to fight her traitorous body. Her hand seemed to move of its own accord as it made its way to reach up to his shoulder and, as she stepped closer into his kiss, her head seemed to tilt on its own to give him better access. Ichigo released her other hand to hold her even closer to him, moulding their bodies together. His scent assaulted her nostrils; heady, spicy and so incredible male. He nibbled gently on her lower lip and she gasped, giving him access to deepen the kiss, his tongue pushing past hers to subject her mouth to a thorough exploration.

Rukia dug her nails into his shoulders, whimpering as a totally new, unknown and indescribable wave of heat washed over her. Hesitantly at first, then gradually with more confidence, she returned his kiss, trying to match his movements.

Ichigo growled as he felt her tantalizing exploration, his already flaming senses soaring higher. He felt tipsy, intoxicated by her softness and sweet taste, his heart drumming in his chest - he could not seem to get enough of her. They were totally oblivious to their environment and to the time which elapsed, as a sudden urgency seemed to get grip of them both, and they kissed feverishly, passionately.

Finally, the distant sound of laughter and loud chattering caused them to surface. The thought that they could be stumbled upon by anybody any minute now made them break the kiss. As they broke apart, Rukia took a step back.

Away from the warmth of Ichigo's arms, away from his lips, Rukia felt cold reality sink in. Her previously mushy brains seemed to start working again. She took several more steps back, evading Ichigo's arms which tried to hold her.

Ichigo could clearly see the emotions flickering through the violet orbs, and he helplessly watched her eyes widen with dismay.

"Rukia!" he whispered urgently, wanting to stop the growing distance he could see invading her eyes.

"This is wrong!" Rukia choked out, interrupting him, "I should _not_ have done this!"

"Rukia, please, don't—"

He advanced towards her, but she raised her hand to motion him to stop.

"This is so wrong." she repeated, "I'm getting married in only a few days…! Why _now_?" her eyes were anguished, almost accusing, as she looked at him.

"As you've always said, I'm a baka…that's why it's taken me so long..." he said earnestly, intensely, "Rukia, I—"

"Ichigo, don't!" she cried out, "Stop. This isn't a game. I'm getting _married_ in 4 days!"

She turned to leave.

"Rukia wait!" He moved quickly towards her, but she jumped back further.

"No, stop! Ichigo, don't do this. Please, leave me alone!" Her voice lashed out and her distress was evident in her breaking tone, "Please don't…I-I need to go."

She disappeared almost instantly, as she shunpoed her way towards the Kuchiki manor.

Ichigo stood there, stunned, and he did not try to stop her this time.


	6. Chapter 6

**Once again, thanks to my Beta reader, Heaven Star!**

**Thanks as well to all the reviewers! Each reviews means a lot to me!**

XOXOXO

It was very late at night and Ichigo couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned about in the small bed, his thoughts his thoughts running ceaselessly. He was so near his goal, he had been so tantalizingly close to winning Rukia over, but then with each step forward, he had seemed to be moving 10 steps backwards. Rukia's parting words still rang in his ears, but he refused to take that as her final decision. She had been too emotional to think rationally, and he hoped that tonight would give her enough time to think things over. Ichigo sighed in frustration.

He relived his kiss with Rukia for the hundredth time in his head. It had only been a kiss, but the response he had received from Rukia had been more than revealing enough. It had been purely emotional when they had kissed. And he could still feel the imprint of her lips on his own lips, the taste of her still lingering in his mouth, he felt aroused by the mere thought of it all. The aftermath was quite shattering; he was now coming to grips with the fact that Rukia was not totally indifferent to him, she _did_ feel something more than platonic friendship for him. He felt an exhilarating rush at that thought.

She may have said otherwise, but her response to their kiss had belied her words. Ichigo felt crushed that she was choosing to ignore the feelings that were evident between them, but he vowed not to give up on her yet. He had wasted enough time, he needed to sort this out now. He did not want to lose her, not when he was this close.

With these thoughts, his tired mind finally gave up and he fell asleep.

XOXOX

At the Kuchiki mansion, Rukia couldn't sleep either, tormented by her own thoughts. She lay on her bed, face buried in her pillow in an attempt to blot out the tears that had been threatening to squeeze out. Her emotions were in a chaotic mess. She could still not come to grips with the fact that she and Ichigo had kissed. Despite what she had told Ichigo out of shock, the kiss had felt so _right_. She had felt so at home in Ichigo's arms, as if she belonged in them. His warmth and his scent had felt so familiar, so _hers._

She still couldn't believe that Ichigo felt _that_ way about her. Now, looking back, his strange behavior over the past few days seemed to make sense. She was still digesting the fact that what she had yearned for so long _could_ become a reality.

She still had doubts about having a relationship with Ichigo due to her being a Shinigami and him a human - she still strongly felt that Ichigo deserved a normal human mate in his life - but the clear, raw emotions she had seen in his eyes wouldn't leave her mind, she couldn't ignore that. It had been one thing to agree with this arranged marriage thinking that what she had felt for Ichigo was just one-sided, but now, knowing that Ichigo felt the same way as her, was something else.

But still, it was impossible to evade the harsh reality that she was getting married in only 4 days. And that was not a game, as she had told Ichigo. She was from one of the 4 highest noble families of Seireitei; the rules were not something to be taken lightly. Marriages in noble families in Seireitei were not to be taken so frivolously that she could have second thoughts only 4 days out from the wedding ceremony. She didn't even dare to think about the consequences if she backed out of the wedding _now_. . Her hands went clammy at the mere thought of having to face Byakuya's wrath upon her cancelling now, at this stage; imagining his cold contempt was simply horrifying.

She felt utterly lost, full of despair and so horribly trapped. She also felt lonely. She yearned for someone to talk to; she yearned so much for a mother, or a sister, or even a close friend in whom she could confide at moments like these.

"Rukia…"

A soft, feminine voice jerked Rukia out of her reverie. Raising her face from her pillow she had to squint her eyes to focus before she saw a white clad, hazy silhouette standing by her bed.

"Sode no Shirayuki!" Rukia exclaimed shocked, as she recognized her Zampactou in materialized form, before she asked incredulously, "W-What are you doing here? How have you materialized again? I thought you were completely sealed back?"

"I'm not totally materialized; I cannot muster that much reiatsu." murmured the Zampactou, "But I had to come…"

_That would account for her ghost like, translucent appearance, _thought Rukia.

"But, why?" she asked the hazy Zampactou.

Sode no Shirayuki looked down at Rukia, as usual her eyes were calm and full of wisdom. She could see how distressed her young mistress was, it was the same distress which had been manifesting itself in her inner world for some weeks now.

"Rukia, right now, my world is full of violent storms. It's been like this for the past few weeks and it's getting worse. Your heart is unhappy." Sode no Shirayuki's melodious voice replied.

"I had to come out; I couldn't stand to see you so distraught. Is there anything I can do to alleviate your pain, mistress?" asked the beautiful Zanpactou. Rukia looked at her, deeply moved that her Zampactou had come out for her - it was as if she had heard Rukia's yearning for someone.

Rukia bent her head, her breath caught painfully in her throat. "I'm so confused, Sode no Shirayuki." she whispered painfully. "I feel so torn. But I doubt that anything could be done, now - it's too late, it's far too late."

And, unable to hold them in longer, Rukia felt the tears which had been threatening to fall the whole time squeeze out from her eyes. She felt so broken right now and she loathed her weakness. Kuchiki Rukia very rarely cried, she very rarely allowed herself show any weaknesses; but right then, her whole world seemed to be crashing down around her. She felt swamped by emotions which she was not built to handle.

Seeing her distressed mistress, the beautiful Zampactou sat down beside Rukia on the bed, murmuring soothing words and trying to give as much comfort as she could.

Taking a deep breath, Rukia collected herself again. "I have to choose between what is right and what my heart wants. I had made my choice, I was at peace with what I decided, but now my heart is wavering." she whispered.

Sode no Shirayuki felt silent for a moment.

"Rukia, I dwell in you…I know what your heart yearns for and, as your Zampactou, my duty is to protect your strength. Your strength can only flourish when your heart is at peace..."

Rukia looked at her Zampactou silently.

"If there is no light yet, it means that it's still not the end, so it cannot be too late. If there are too many storms in your heart, you will only falter. Follow your heart's wish; it is where your strength lies." Sode no Shirayuki continued.

_Still not the end…_

Rukia was still mulling over Sode no Shirayuki's words much later when sleep finally caught up with her…

XOXOX

The next morning Rukia woke up groggy from her almost sleepless night. She felt drained and went through her usual morning routines automatically. As soon as she set off from her room, she was met with a harried looking Kenji.

"Rukia-sama, Shotoku Akira is at the manor for a visit but Byakuya-sama is already out; he said he had a captains meeting this morning." Kenji hurriedly informed her. "I have sent for the 3 Kuchiki elders in the meantime but right now Shotoku-sama is waiting in the receiving room…" the manservant looked nervous. The Shotoku leader deserved the highest welcome and, since Byakuya was absent, the elders were the next highest in the order of precedence to receive the Shotoku leader - Rukia could understand that perfectly, but it was not polite to make such a noble wait for too long without being seen to, either.

"It's ok, Kenji, I'll meet Shotoku-sama myself." Rukia comforted the manservant. As the only member immediately present in the household it was her duty to receive the guests anyway. She wondered what had prompted the visit, since apparently there had been no prior appointment - otherwise Byakuya would not have left his office.

As she entered the living room, Rukia respectfully greeted her soon to be father-in-law. The man greeted Rukia in return with his usual coldness.

"Nii-sama is not in at the moment, is there anything I could help you with?" asked Rukia, knowing it was not her place to ask this, but politeness still dictated her to enquire.

"This is an informal visit, it was nothing urgent. I'll meet Byakuya later." Akira told her dismissively, before continuing, looking at Rukia condescendingly, "I was in the neighborhood, and wanted to discuss some last minute details for the wedding ceremony."

Just as Akira finished speaking Hirashin and Mitachi arrived. After they had greeted the Shotoku leader, Hirashin looked at Rukia disdainfully.

"You can leave. We will see to Shotoku-sama now."

"You can leave. We will see to Shotoku sama now." Hirashin said, looking at Rukia is his usual disdainful way.

Rukia bowed her head, but inside she was so irritated by the dismissive attitude they all had towards her, that she had to take a deep breath to calm herself.

XOXOXO

At the 13th Squad, Ichigo was the first one of the group to arrive at the canteen. He was impatient for Rukia to arrive as she had said that she would meet them there to spend the day and so, he waited. He was determined to talk to her again. He did not accept her refusal to admit that they _had_ something between them and he was hoping that they could both work something out. He didn't want to give up on her and he hoped that the night had given her enough time to think so that they could have a serious, rational conversation.

30 minutes later there was still no sign of Rukia, though the others had already turned in for breakfast. They could all sense that Ichigo was on edge because he kept looking at the door.

"Rukia-nee is late, isn't she?" murmured Karin.

"She must have lots to do…" remarked Orihime.

They all hung out for another 30 minutes waiting for Rukia before Orihime proposed that they leave the canteen.

"Let's go out on the terrace, we'll be able to see Rukia coming from there." she suggested.

They all agreed and Ichigo following them quietly.

Ichigo frowned as he looked at the time. He could understand why she wasn't early since she was supposed to have the day off work, but still…she wasn't normally so late when she had agreed meet them for breakfast, and it was already 1 hour past any decent breakfast time. He hoped that she had not changed her mind about spending the day with them but then, even if she had, she would have told them, he was sure of that. He brooded for a while, and then suddenly made a decision.

"I'm going to the Kuchiki manor to look for Rukia." he announced as he stood up.

"Hello, everybody." greeted the gruff voice of Toushiro. The young captain had accompanied Ukitake to the 13th squad, after they had both gotten out of the captains meeting. He was supposed to meet Karin for a spar, so he had decided to come to look for her. Karin's eyes immediately lit up as she saw Toushiro. And though he did not actually smile, the teal eyes held a hint of warmth as Toushiro looked back at her.

Toushiro had also wanted to meet Ichigo. He had just received some disturbing information, and he wanted to see whether Ichigo had anything to do with it. He looked at the orange haired young man, having heard his statement about going to the Kuchiki manor. Toushiro could not help but think about the previous night. He, like many others, had been aware of the apparent electricity that had flowed between Rukia and Ichigo. Though he knew the others had talked a lot about it, however, being as he was, he had refused to join in the wild speculation that had buzzed among the Shinigami.

Ichigo made a move to leave after returning Toushiro's greeting.

"Watch your step, Kurosaki." Toushiro's quiet words stopped Ichigo in his tracks. Even the others looked at the young captain, suddenly attentive after heading his serious tone.

Ichigo glared at the 10th Squad captain_. _"Toushiro, this is definitely not the time." He growled angrily.

The tension was suddenly palpable, and the others watched the two intentlybefore Toushiro gave a deep sigh.

"Just, watch your step, Kurosaki," he repeated, "I have some important news for you. I have learned that the Shotoku family has recently, only about half an hour ago, requested the presence of 2 Royal guards at the wedding on Sunday."

A shocked silence welcomed this news.

"Royal guards?" echoed Ichigo after a minute of surprise, before firing questions at the young captain, "But I thought they lived in another dimension? And why would they come to Seireitei? Is it normal for them to 'help' like this?"

"Yes, they live in another dimension, but they are available if and when needed by Soul Society." Toushiro replied, "This type of help is not unheard of. Being one of the four greatest noble families of Soul Society, the Shotoku has the privilege to invoke their help if needed."

"But can the Shotoku bypass the Gotei 13's authority like that?" asked Uryuu, incredulously. "I mean, isn't it the job of the Gotei 13 to look after any matters concerning Sereitei?"

"The Gotei 13 has the strict rule of interference in nobles' private matters," Toushiro told Uryuu. "Unless there is a clear breach of security in Soul Society, even if they wanted to, the Shotoku could not ask for Gotei 13 help. They are well aware of this rule and they do not have any valid reason to proclaim any breach of security…yet." Toushiro finished, looking at Ichigo.

"But what could have triggered this decision to get the protection of the Royal guards?" Karin asked, shaken by what she was hearing. From what she had learnt from Urahara and Yoruichi-shishou, Royal guards were a very few selected, powerful Shinigami of Soul Society and they were all ex-Captains for the Gotei 13. To learn that the Shotoku had asked for their protection at the wedding was quite frightening. "And don't the nobles family usually have their own sets of guards?" she continued. From what she had also learnt from Yoruichi, the Shihoin family always had a huge set of personal guards. So surely the Shotoku would have same as well?

Toushiro shrugged. "That's what's so intriguing. Yes, the Shotoku does have a quiet huge set of personal guards. So, we don't know why they've taken such drastic steps to ask for the royal guards help on top of that for a mere wedding ceremony. Unless they fear a very powerful attack, there is absolutely no reason at all." He said, still looking at Ichigo.

"Well, you were quite forthright during that dinner at the Kuchiki manor, Ichigo," remarked Uryuu, "Maybe the Shotoku felt something brewing? Maybe they felt threatened?"

Although Uryuu himself was not convinced that a mere dinner conversation, however tensed, could make one of the 4 greatest noble families feel threatened.

Ichigo was deep in thought - He could not believe that his slight provocations at the dinner at the Kuchiki manor would have resulted in this. The only thing which had changed was their kiss, but even then he felt that even that would not be reason enough. Somebody would have come to him about it first if that were the case.

"I find it very odd that they were called for the ceremony only…" he said slowly, "If they felt threatened by _me_, surely they would have taken measures as of _now_. What's preventing me from doing anything rash right now?"

"Maybe we're all assuming too much here. Maybe they just asked for the Royal guards' presence in order to show off?" suggested Uryuu.

Still, Ichigo felt a sense of foreboding and he suddenly felt the urge to go and find Rukia. "I need to see Rukia." He said in a tight voice but Toushiro stopped him again.

"And as personal, friendly word of advice, Ichigo, whatever you do _don't _go into your hollow form in front of the nobles and the Royal guards. Yamamoto sou-taicho may have accepted you with your hollowfication, but that does not mean that everyone in Soul Society is in agreement with that. Don't forget that if the old room 41 was still here you would have been ordered to be executed, same as was done to Shinji and his group back then. The nobles could use their political leverage to order your banishment forever from Soul Society or, worse, your execution, so just don't give them a tangible reason to do so."

Ichigo looked at Toushiro. "Thank you for telling me all this." Ichigo said quietly.

Then, with a nod, he shunpooed in the direction of the Kuchiki manor.

Everybody was disturbed by what Toushiro has said. Karin looked at the young captain, deeply worried by this point.

"Toushiro, when you said Gotei 13 would not interfere in the personal matters of the nobles…what if, in all this, the Royal guards decide to attack Ichi-nii?" she asked quietly.

Toushiro did not reply straight away, a frown marring his face as the others waited expectantly, as deeply worried as Karin.

"Well, firstly, the Royal guards are a level above any of the Captains of the Gotei 13, hierarchy wise and strength wise, they are a reasonable and just group of highly respected Shinigami and they would not take the offensive first without any valid reason - That in itself eliminates the possibility of Ichigo being unfairly dealt with.

"But?" pressed Karin, "What if, for whatever reason, they feel that Ichi-nii does pose a threat? What if they _do_ attack Ichi-nii? Would Gotei 13 come to Ichi-nii?" She asked, her concern growing.

"No." Toushiro replied after another short silence. "The Gotei 13 would not interfere, Karin. The Royal guards would only attack Ichigo if they feel that he was violating the security of the Shotoku - assuming that this _is_ the threat that have made the Shotoku request the help of the royal guards. This wedding will fall under the banner of "private matters of the nobles" and the Gotei 13 would not interfere; especially not with the Royal guards present."

Seeing Karin's shocked face, Toushiro continued, "And that is not all. If anybody from the Gotei 13 would dare intervene, that Shinigami's action would be considered treasonous and Yamamoto would take the required disciplinary steps."

Karin was speechless by then.

_So it means that Ichi-nii is completely on his own here_. She thought.

Uryuu, Orihime and Chad had all come to the same conclusion. Ichigo had only _them_ to count on, if the situation arose where the Royal guards stepped in.

Karin snapped out of her stunned state. "Toushiro, I won't be able to spar with you today, as we planned. Sorry, I have something urgent to deal with." She said briskly.

Toushiro raised his eyebrow at her, not too surprised after seeing how deeply concerned she looked.

Karin moved to Uryuu's side.

"Please tell Ichi-nii that I'm going to be with Yoruichi-shishou for a long training session, and I'll be back by Sunday morning before the wedding ceremony at the latest!" she hurriedly told Uryuu, "Tell him not to worry about me."

With that, Karin shunpooed off to find Yoruichi, whom she knew would be at the 2nd squad. Karin immediately located Yoruichi by her reiatsu signature, she was lazing around on the roof of the 2nd squad main building.

"Shishou, I want to do that Bankai training." She told the black haired beauty, without preamble. Yoruichi merely smiled at her. Karin dearly hoped that she would make it on time, and that nothing would happen until the ceremony.

XOXOXO

Ichigo's mind was troubled as well as he made his way to the Kuchiki manor. He was worried about Rukia mostly. He dearly hoped that the night had given her enough time to think for her to make a wise decision concerning them both. He would deal with the rest.

It was Kenji came to the door when Ichigo knocked at the Manor. The man servant looked at Ichigo as if he had been expecting him.

"I'm sorry, Kurosaki-san, but Rukia-sama has just left with Byakuya-sama for the day. They have both gone to Rokungai for some family affair. Rukia-sama has left the message that she apologizes but she will not be able to spend the day with you as she promised."

Ichigo felt his anxiety increase upon hearing that. He needed to see her - to talk to her!

_Is she avoiding me?_ He could not help thinking, frowning.

"Do you when she'll be back?" Ichigo asked the kindly manservant.

"Well, Byakuya-sama did say that they would be gone for the whole day, and that they would not be back until late tonight." Kenji replied.

There was nothing Ichigo could do, so he decided to leave. "When they get back, could you please inform Rukia that I came by?" Ichigo hesitated, he didn't know whether it was right to tell Kenji that he wanted to meet Rukia. "Tell her that Ishida Uryuu needs her for some fitting." he improvised. Rukia would surely understand when she got the message.

He quickly made his way back to the 13th squad, thinking about what to do. He tried to locate Rukia's reiatsu signature but he could not sense her anywhere nearby and that was to be expected anyway, if she really had gone out of Seireitei.

He found Renji with Chad, Orihime and Uryuu.

"Ichigo, I was just telling the others that I ran into Rukia earlier. She had said to tell you that she would not be available today and has sent her apologies." Renji told him.

"You met Rukia?" Ichigo immediately pounced. "Is she alright? Did she seem…okay?" he asked, trying to hide the urgency he felt when Renji looked at him in surprise.

"Yeah, she is alright, and seemed fine. Why wouldn't she be fine?' Renji asked suspiciously.

"I'm just surprised that she cancelled on us, that's all." Ichigo hastily replied, not wanting Renji grill him about it. "Yesterday she planned to spend the day with us, so it seems odd that today she suddenly isn't available."

Renji looked satisfied enough with the reply. "Well, Kuchiki-taicho was going to Rukongai to hold the traditional ancestors greeting ceremony today. It's a ceremony the Kuchiki usually hold before any religious event in the clan. And Rukia herself suggested she go with him. I had to go to the Kuchiki manor after the Captains meeting this morning and saw Rukia there before they departed."

Ichigo was sure now that Rukia was avoiding him. He felt deeply hurt at the thought.

XOXOXO

That afternoon there was a very subdued Karakuran group hanging out in the 13th squad back garden. Orihime had left with Rangiku, the two girls wanted to have a browse around in the small shops at the edge of Seireitei, so Chad, Uryuu and Ichigo were hanging out together. Uryuu had told Ichigo about Karin being with Yoruichi for some long training session and Ichigo had only grunted. He wondered what the two could be up to, but his mind was too full to really linger on them. As long as Karin was with Yoruichi, she would be ok, he had concluded.

"Ishida, when are you supposed to give Rukia her dresses?" Ichigo asked. Since the Quincy had not disappeared into his room for the day, Ichigo was assuming that he had completed the bridal dresses.

"Rukia-san said she will take them on Saturday, that is, the day after tomorrow. She said she did not want to have them earlier than on the eve of the ceremony." Uryuu replied.

Ichigo pondered that.

"Um…This morning, when I went to the Kuchiki manor, I left the message that you needed her for some fitting. I hope you don't mind. It seemed too inappropriate to say that I needed to meet her." He hesitantly informed Uryuu. He felt bad for not having checked with Uryuu first.

Uryuu smirked at him."It's ok, Kurosaki."

"I thought you two talked things over last night?" Uryuu asked after a short silence. He had not missed the fact that Ichigo and Rukia had left the party almost at the same time and by the time the remaining group had returned to the 13th squad Ichigo had already been in his room.

Ichigo gave a huge sigh, raking his hand through his hair.

"No. Nothing was sorted out," he replied in a low, disgruntled voice. "She was too emotional and upset and not willing to listen. She didn't want to give us a chance."

Uryuu looked thoughtful at that. "Well, that was to be expected, wasn't it?" he said dryly, "You surely didn't expect her to jump in your arms immediately when you profess your feelings only days away from her wedding, did you?"

Chad just listened in, silent as usual.

Ichigo looked at Uryuu. "Yeah, but I didn't expect her to reject the idea straight away!" he protested.

"Kurosaki, you've had years to profess your feelings! And you didn't. Don't you now the old adage? If you like the girl, get her before someone else comes along and sweeps her off her feet! Put yourself in her place, she must have thought you weren't interested all these years. Now, on the eve of her wedding, you come forward with your confession. The least you can do now is to give her some time."

"Hey, how could I declare my feelings when she never showed any interest in me; not in _that_ way, at least!" Ichigo replied vehemently.

"Kurosaki, you must be blind if you think she didn't show that type of interest in you. Everybody saw it." Uryuu stated.

"Yes." Chad nodded his head.

Ichigo looked at both of them, shocked.

"But then, she should have seen that you were interested in her too." Uryuu continued, musingly, "That was really obvious as well. In fact, you two were clearly besotted with each other, but you were both blind to it." He finished.

Chad nodded again.

Ichigo felt mortified. He felt exposed. His private life had been so obvious to everybody - except to him, it seemed.

"But now time is running out… I don't want to lose her." Ichigo whispered, his desperation clear in his voice.

"Well you haven't got a choice. Give her some time and space to digest all this." Uryuu replied. "You have only yourself to blame for waiting this long to take this step. Don't expect things to easily fall in your lap now!"

"Hey! Whose side are you on? You sound just like those stuck-up nobles!" Ichigo looked at Uryuu, outraged.

"Well, I definitely know what it is to be responsible and to stick to one's decision. So, I understand Rukia's situation in all this." Uryuu retorted. "A wedding in Soul Society - among the nobles to boot! - is not so insignificant that you can just expect her to dump everything!"

Looking at Ichigo dejected face, Uryuu gave a sigh. "If she has not come to meet you today, it most probably means she needs some time. You've just told her how you feel; let her digest all this and talk to her tomorrow." Uryuu proposed.

Chad nodded in agreement.

"I didn't even tell her how I feel," realized Ichigo aloud after a silence. "I didn't manage to do it and she wouldn't listen to anything I had to say, anyway."

Uryuu looked at him, perplexed. "Then why was she even upset? You gave the impression that you told her about your feelings!"

A red tinge went up Ichigo's cheeks.

"Well, I didn't exactly _tell_ her how I feel. Not verbally, I mean." He admitted, and did not clarify further.

Uryuu looked at the red cheeks of his friend. "You don't change, do you? Always a man who acts first and asks questions later…" Uryuu snorted, after giving an exasperated sigh.

Chad shook with silent laughter at Ichigo's deep blush.

Ichigo didn't have much of option but to wait, seeing as Rukia was unavailable. He had thought of dropping back in to the Kuchiki manor in the evening, but he felt that maybe Uryuu was right. He should give Rukia some breathing space. He had left the message with Kenji that he had come by, so she would at least know that he had wanted to meet her, so, if she returned home early enough, and if she wanted to, she could come and see him. Otherwise, he would wait and talk to her tomorrow.

XOXOXO

The next morning, as soon as breakfast was over, Ichigo made his way again towards the Kuchiki manor. Rukia had not shown up the previous night, so now he was on his way to meet her. He had to see her. He had to try again.

This time, Kenji informed him that Rukia was at home, and he let Ichigo in the house. Ichigo had to wait for a short time while Kenji went in - presumably inform Rukia of his visit. He was back soon enough, though, and led Ichigo towards the back of the manor. They reached the terrace which led into the garden, the same one they'd all been just a few nights ago, before the dinner. Ichigo was nervous at the formality of it all. He had expected Rukia to come herself at the door…

Rukia was sitting at a table on the terrace. She was wearing a pink kimono, with grey and black designs running up the hem and sleeves. Kenji left them.

"Hello, Ichigo" she greeted, remaining seated.

Ichigo looked at her. She was sitting gracefully with her legs folded under her knees, her back straight, hands folded on her lap, looking up at him regally. She looked so calm and collected. What shook him most were her eyes. The last time he had looked into those violet pools, they had been full of emotions, fire, despair and confusion. But now…they were calm, unwavering, unreadable, and direct as she looked up at him. Her face and her eyes gave nothing of her thoughts.

Ichigo felt a cold shiver running down his back at this emotionless Rukia.

"You wanted to see me?" she probed on, her voice as calm and void as her face.

"Hi…Rukia," he greeted back. Even his usual teasing remark of 'midget' got stuck in his throat. A tense, cold silence settled between them, the air thick with palpable tension.

Ichigo felt numb but he knew the time for stalling has long gone. He needed to talk to her if he did not want to lose her.

"Rukia, you must agree that there is something between us." He started; he could not bring himself to say the words 'I love you', not in this cold atmosphere, not to this closed Rukia. She perceptibly flinched, but her rigid demeanor did not falter. She remained silent.

"Please don't do it." he said in a low voice.

"What do you mean?" she asked in a toneless voice.

Ichigo inwardly winced, but still went ahead. "All of this. Don't deny what we could be… Don't go ahead with this marriage, please."

This time, her eyes flared for a brief moment before she collected herself again. "How can you ask this out of me, Ichigo?" her voice was like a slap. "How can you ask me this now, on the eve of my wedding? A marriage is not a show, for me to give up at the last minute just like that. How could you even think…" with a graceful fluid movement, she was on her feet. "This is Soul Society, Ichigo. I told you before, we value our principles highly. As a Kuchiki I don't take these things lightly."

Ichigo could only look at her, speechless. He hid the effect her hard words were having on him. "Rukia, you can say whatever you want, but I _know_ you feel something for me. The previous night…"

"The previous night?" She cut him off, a slight agitation finally cutting through the emotionless tone of her voice. "I told you it was wrong. I should not have …" She stopped, fumbling. "Don't read so much into that, Ichigo." She continued.

"How can you say this, Rukia!" Ichigo made to move in her direction, but she recoiled back.

"Stop right there, Ichigo." Her voice was almost shrilled. "It was a mistake on my part. Don't make too much of it."

Ichigo was trying not to explode. He could barely believe what he was hearing. But still, he had to go on. Putting his pride aside, he said "Okay, as you say, I won't make too much of it. But still, Rukia, I…"

"Ichigo, don't." She cut him off again, her expression closed. Her shoulders were rigid, her fists balled by her sides, as she stood there, looking up at him. "Please Ichigo, don't do this. Don't make it harder. What will it take convince you to accept my decision? What will it take for you to accept that I am going ahead with this wedding?"

She turned her back to him. "If you really respect me, if ever our friendship meant something to you, Ichigo, then please…"

Ichigo felt as if he had been punched. He practically could feel his heart breaking in that moment. He looked at Rukia's unrelenting stance.

"Look at me when you say that." he finally said stonily.

Rukia turned to look at him. Her eyes were blank. "I'm sorry, Ichigo, but there can't be anything between us now. Please accept that I _am_ getting married in 2 days. I hope that you can be happy for me."

The resulting silence was deafening.

"I'm sorry." she repeated in a low voice.

The sound of the door sliding open broke Ichigo out of the daze he had fallen into. The door opened to reveal Byakuya. Looking at the two tense faces, and feeling the tension in the air, Byakuya raised his eyebrow.

"Kurosaki." he greeted and his usual toneless voice. "Is there an issue?" He asked, eyeing the two.

"No, nii-sama. Ichigo was just about to leave." Rukia replied, glancing at Ichigo before turning her back to him dismissively.

Ichigo opened his mouth before closing it again. There was nothing left to say anymore. Suddenly, he felt the need to be away from there. Without a word, he turned and departed.

Byakuya looked at the rigid back of Rukia. "What happened? He seemed...distressed."

Rukia rigidly maintained her posture. "He is sad because he fears to lose our friendship. We were best friends, after all, and the idea that he is losing me hurts him." Byakuya could hear the control that Rukia was trying to hold on her voice.

"Rukia…" Byakuya started.

"Sorry Nii-sama, but I need to leave now. I still have lots to do." With a bow, she hurriedly departed.

XOXOX

Ichigo shunpooed almost blindly to the 13th squad. He felt broken. Completely. He had been prepared to fight the whole of Soul Society if the need had arisen... He had been ready to take on any Royal guards, too, if it had come to that. But he could not fight _her_. There was nothing he could do if she refused to acknowledge and accept the feelings between them.

The painful lump in his throat was almost choking him. He had tried, at least. Like his father had said, at least he would not have the regret of not having _tried_. He had tried, and he had still lost her. It was already over now.

He wanted to leave for Karakura immediately. He couldn't stand to stay in Soul Society even a minute longer. As he reached the 13th squad, he met Chad, Orihime and Uryuu, who had all been waiting for him. They were immediately concerned when they saw his closed face.

"It's over." was all he said to Uryuu. "I want to leave Soul Society right now." He did not give any further explanations.

"But what about Karin?" asked Orihime.

'_Karin!_' he thought.

In his despair, he had completely forgotten about her. He knew she was okay with Yoruichi, but he could not leave without her. His fiercely protective instinct towards her forbade him to do so.

"Did she give any indication where she could have gone?" he asked Uryuu.

"I'm sorry, Kurosaki, but all she said was that she would definitely be back by Sunday morning, before the wedding ceremony starts, at the latest."

Ichigo swore. He desperately wanted to leave. He was trying desperately to not show the pain he was feeling, but his friends were not duped.

"I'll bring her back along on Sunday, if you want." Uryuu proposed.

"No." Ichigo refused. Karin was his sister and therefore his responsibility. He was not going to dump her because of his own emotional problems. "I'll wait." he decided. "But I don't want to stay here in Seireitei. I think I'll go and pay Ganju a visit. I'll be back by Sunday morning, but if Karin is back before me…"

"We'll come looking for you." Uryuu finished.

"Thanks, Ishida." Ichigo said, and turned to shunpoo away. Chad immediately stepped beside him.

"I'll try to follow you on the ground." He quietly told Ichigo.

Ichigo looked at his friend. He did not even question Chad, he already knew that his quiet friend had made up his mind to come along with him.

"It's ok, we'll walk together" Ichigo said, and both of them left Seireitei.


	7. Chapter 7

**As usual, I thank all of you for the reviews – it's a real encouragement to write!**

**The orginal chapter had turned out to be so long that I've had to cut it into two. Now, the next chapter will be the last one, followed by an epilogue.**

**XOXOX**

Sunday arised with a bright, golden sun set in a cloudless blue sky. It was around 9 O'clock when Ichigo and Chad returned back in Sereitei, time by which the sun rays had already warmed up the morning air.

_It had been a good decision to go to meet Ganju,_ Ichigo mused. The visit with the ever outrageous guy, and his hilarious cronies, who were ever by his side, had made Ichigo's focus shift for the time of their stay; the hours had flown by in their company. Bonnie, the cherished pet boar, had been, as usual, by his master's side all the time, and Ichigo had not missed any opportunity to taunt Ganju each time the man had been conversing with his Bonnie _chan_. It had also been quite entertaining to see Ganju still cowering in front of Kukaku; the beautiful Shiba woman being as strict as ever with her younger brother, always keeping him up on his toes.

All of them had been aware of Rukia's wedding; such an alliance between the Kuchiki and the Shotoku family did certainly not go un-noticed in Rokungai, and the wedding was to be THE big social event of the decade, it seemed. But, seeing Ichigo's obvious withdrawal at the first talk concerning the wedding, Kukaku, very perceptive, had immediately discerned the young man turmoil and she had not push the subject again. She had received some prior feedback from Yoruichi, her long time friend, about the heart matter of the young substitute Shinigami, so Kukaku did have an idea on what must be going on his mind right then. She must have warned Ganju not to breach the topic as well, because the wedding subject had not been mentioned again after the first talk, and Ichigo had been grateful for that fact.

Now, walking back in Sereitei with Chad by his side, Ichigo felt his chest tighten as he felt the raw hurt feelings re-surfacing. He felt suffocated by sheer misery as he treaded on the streets of the city, which, to him, were foremost Rukia's home grounds, her territory. His best defense, he felt, was to run away from her, her city and her world as far and as quickly as possible.

"I'm going to the 12th squad to ask them to prepare a senkai gate to be opened as soon as Karin arrives," he informed Chad quietly. "I'll also ask them to prepare another one for you guys for later, after the wedding ceremony."

He may not want to attend the ceremony, but that did not mean that the others would not as well. It would be a hassle, but the 12th squad would have to open two gates for that day, he decided.

"I'll be at the Sokyoku Hill after that; if you happen to meet Karin, could you please tell her to come to over there?" He requested.

Chad nodded, "I'll go to the 13th squad to see Ishida and Orihime," he replied. "Maybe Karin is already there, already waiting."

"I hope so." Ichigo did not want to wait any longer.

Half an hour later, Ichigo stood at the Sokyoku Hill. He had made the necessary arrangements with the 12th squad; they had already informed Urahara, and now they just had to wait for Ichigo's signal to open the first gate. A second gate has been scheduled for the late afternoon, Ichigo assuming that others would want to stay a little while longer after the ceremony.

He looked down at the beautiful sight of Sereitei, wondering if he would ever want to come back again. At least, it would not be for a while. For a long while. He was sure he would have a lot of inner rebuilding up to do before he would be able to come back, to face Rukia again without feeling the pain in his chest.

_Finally, Rukia not being able to come to Karakura will be a blessing in disguise_, he thought. The separation would give him the distance needed to try to work things out for himself, to get over her.

_If I would ever be able to…_

She had formed such an integral part of his life, had ensnared such a big part of his heart, that he had difficulty to conceive the idea of her not being in his life anymore from now on. Even if they would meet again, things would definitely be different; he had no delusions about their future relationship anymore. A huge change had already occurred.

He looked at his watch; in another half an hour the ceremony would start. His heart faltered at the thought, but he steeled himself.

_I'll have to surmount this; _he tried to reason with himself, almost desperately_. I'm certainly not the first one to have a broken heart, and will not be the last one. Life goes on…_

**XOXOX**

A short while later, Chad and Uryuu walked up the Sokyoku Hill; but Karin was not with them. Neither was Orihime.

"Karin has still not returned yet?" Ichigo asked his friends, frowning.

Chad shook his head negatively, and came to stand besides him. Ichigo gave a stressed sigh. He dearly hoped that she would not be late, but he still could not get himself to leave without at least ensuring that she was alright.

"Shouldn't you guys be at the…ceremony already?" he asked the two, eying their attire at the same time. Uryuu was in his usual white Quincy suit, same as he had been during their whole stay in Soul Society, and Chad was still in his normal casual attire; not really the type of clothing that one would usually wear for such a formal ceremony as a wedding.

Uryuu shrugged. "Orihime is there already," was all he said. Chad remained silent.

They were all standing, looking down at Sereitei and none of them wanting to break the reflective silence which had fallen upon them, when a sudden soft, whispery voice broke in the air.

"Kurosaki Ichigo…" a feminine voice whispered.

Ichigo whirled around to see a hazy white clad form standing close to them, definitely feminine going by the clothes. The appearance was ghostlike, which surprised Ichigo because he had never seen anything like that in Soul Society. He peered closer at the form.

"Sode no Shirayuki?" He suddenly recognized Rukia's Zanpakutou materialized form. "What – How are you here? How can you be in materialized form?"

'I don't have much energy to stay for long. So, please listen, Kurosaki Ichigo."

Ichigo immediately snapped to attention, alerted and suddenly anxious by the urgent tone of the Zanpakutou.

"My mistress is very distressed. I hate to see her in so much pain. I must do something to help her," the hazy Zanpakutou said in a barely audible voice.

"Ichigo, I feel it's important you should know that Rukia had tried to stop this wedding."

Ichigo eyes widened in shock at that. For one moment, he thought his heart has stopped. Then, slowly, he felt a flicker of hope getting to him as the words sank in. He gaped at Sode no Shirayuki. "She-Rukia tried to stop the wedding?" he rasped.

"Yes, she did. 3 mornings ago, she had a talk with the Shotoku head, Akira, and the 2 Kuchiki elders, Mitachi and Hirashin."

_3 mornings ago? That would be the morning after we kissed!_ Ichigo worked out quickly.

Chad and Uryuu had moved closer to the Zanpakutou, so as to be able to grasp her low voice better.

"Shotoku Akira had come for an unofficial visit at the Kuchiki Manor, and since Byakuya-sama was not here, Rukia was the one to receive Akira." Sode no Shirayuki continued.

**Flashback.**

"You can leave. We will see to Shotoku sama now." Hirashin said, looking at Rukia is his usual disdainful way.

Rukia bowed her head, but inside she was so irritated by the dismissive attitude they all had towards her, that she had to take a deep breath to calm herself.

But she did not leave.

"I have something to say," she announced in a clear, calm voice, despite the fear she was feeling inside.

All three men looked at her, mostly surprised that she was still here when she had clearly been dismissed.

"I would have liked to talk to Nii-sama first, but since you are here, I think it would be much better and quicker if I let you know now itself, Shotoku-sama." Shotoku Akira raised his eyebrow arrogantly at her.

"I am sincerely sorry, but I'd like to let you know that I– I'm calling off this wedding," Rukia said.

A deep silence welcomed her words. None of the three men spoke for a tense few seconds.

"What did you just said?" Hissed Mitachi finally.

"I want to let all of you know that I'm not going ahead with this wedding...I'm rejecting this marriage proposal," repeated Rukia, steeling herself to make her voice sound strong and meeting the eyes of Mitachi steadily. "I sincerely apologize for this; I'm really, deeply sorry for the inconvenience that this will cause, but I can't go through with this." She turned towards Akira and bowed her head as she talked to the man.

"How could you-!" Started Hirashin, his voice shrilled.

"How dare you," Akira's cold voice lashed out. "How dare you think you can trample of the Shotoku's pride like that." He had not even raised his tone, but the cold menacing tone cut through the air.

Rukia inwardly flinched, but she managed to keep the fear from showing on her face. "Again, I sincerely apologize, Shotoku-sama," she whispered, "but I've reconsidered, and I'm not agreeable with this marriage anymore."

"This is because of the –_human_, isn't it?" Akira contemptuously asked.

Rukia could not hide her start of surprise. Not missing her slip, Akira continued.

"You are very much a fool if you think I would let you play with the Shotoku's pride because of that human _filth_."

"This is not the _"

"Don't you dare speak, you foolish girl!" Mitachi's furious voice interrupted Rukia as she started to speak. "Shotoku-sama, please, we appeal to you to disregard what this foolish girl has just said," Mitachi hastily said and bowed to the Shotoku's leader.

"Mitachi-sama, please!" Rukia cried out.

"Let me tell you this, girl. Back off from this wedding now and I will make sure that the boy has an execution order on their head," Akira informed her coldly.

"You surely would not?" Rukia stuttered after a shocked silence, staring at the man incredulously. "You don't have that authority!"

"As one of the 4 highest nobles's family leader, I have enough political leverage in Soul Society to have that power. I'll use my veto to appeal to the King himself in order to get the boy be executed, take my word on this! I'll personally make sure that he is found in whichever hole he hides in the living world, so that his existence is wiped out!' Akira affirmed.

Rukia blanched, the cold assurance with which the man spoke leaving little room for doubting his intent and determination.

"He should not have even been allowed to set foot in Soul Society. Yamamoto Genryuusai has been given too much freedom since the room 46 had been abolished, thus permitting such filths to roam among us, but we, the nobles, will not continue to close our eyes to all the anomalies that the sou-taicho is agreeing on," Akira went on.

"You would go this far to force me into this marriage, even knowing that I am not agreeable anymore to it?" Rukia chocked out, disbelieving and horrified at the length the man was willing to go.

"Who cares what you want?" Akira contemptuously replied. "This is a merger between two of the greatest noble families of Soul Society; what you want and what you feel have absolutely no meaning and no value here!"

"What about Haruko, at least? Will he still be willing for this marriage knowing that I refuse it?" She insisted bravely. Although she was appalled by the threats the man was issuing, she still did not want to give up so easily.

"Haruko will only do what I tell him to do!" Akira snapped disdainfully. "He will obey me as the good son that he is. He knows his duty to do what is best for his family. Unlike you!"

Rukia was reduced to speechlessness.

"Shotoku-sama, please, I appeal to know to not listen to what this girl is saying," Mitachi intervened again, seizing the opportunity of the short silence.

Hirashin grabbed Rukia by arms and pulled her towards the door. "Please excuse us, we'll be right back, Shotoku-sama," Hirashin quickly said. Rukia could hear Mitachi carrying on with his appeal, which made her feel sick, while Mitachi almost dragged her in another room.

"How could you have the audacity to drag the Kuchiki's name in the mud like this!" Hirashin hissed venomously as soon as he closed the door of the adjacent room in which he has dragged Rukia. "How have you even thought for one moment that you could do so? We, the Kuchiki, have given you the privilege of belonging to the Kuchiki family, and this is how to repay us?" he continued, keeping his voice low, presumably not to be overheard by their guest.

Rukia could only stare at the man, what with the pure loathing he was speaking the words with.

"We forgave Byakuya for the disrespect he showed to the Kuchiki's name when he married your sister; we forgave him a second time when he went to adopt you. Now, if you think we will forgive him a third time for this…this insult!"

"Nii-sama has nothing to do with this…please don't bring him into it," interjected Rukia, hating the accusation being addressed towards Byakuya. "This is my doing alone, why should he be held accountable for this?" She whispered almost imploringly.

"He will be responsible for this because he is the one who brought you in this family! And this time, he will not be forgiven; I'll make sure he is stripped off his leadership of this family if you dare back off this marriage now!" Hirashin threatened.

Rukia stared at the man wordlessly, feeling her resolve finally crumbled in shock at this additional warning. She felt her shoulders sag literally under the threat to Ichigo's life plus the threat of Byakuya's leadership being stripped from him, and the humiliation that would surely ensure. She did not know how far these blackmails were valid, but the words spoken from both Akira and Hirashin had seemed ominous enough; they both had seemed determined enough to carry out what they had threatened. And Rukia could not bear the burden of finding out whether they would actually go ahead with what they were stating. She certainly did not want to be the cause of any harm to Ichigo's life and to Byakuya's leadership. She slowly squeezed her eyes closed in defeat.

"We'll go back in there, and you'll take back your words. This marriage will go on," stated Hirashin as he saw her defeated posture. Without waiting further, he opened the door and pulled her back in the room, where Akira and Mitachi awaited.

"Shotoku-sama, we, the Kuchiki elders, very deeply and humbly apologizes for what this foolish girl has said. Please consider this to be a very deep mistake on her part," Hirashin said, his head bowed, followed by Mitachi. He nudged Rukia with is elbow, and Rukia numbly nodded, before bowing her head in turn, her heart seeming to have sank down to her feet.

Akira looked down at her, his cold eyes boring into her bent head. "I hope that this – mistake – will remain within this closed walls," he hissed.

"We give you our words that what have been said will remain within this room, Shotoku-sama," immediately promised Mitachi. Rukia remained silent, all emotions numbed.

**End of flashback.**

Ichigo's mouth was hanging open, revolted by what he was hearing, by the time Sode no Shirayuki had finished. Both Chad and Uryuu was speechless, feeling aghast as well.

"I was sheathed by her side all this time so I heard it all, and dwelling within Rukia's heart, I witnessed her despair," the hazy Zanpakutou whispered.

Ichigo was speechless. Slowly, he felt a cocktail of emotions swelling up him. Foremost, he felt a deep anger at the thought that Rukia had been treated and threatened that way. He was furious at the way which she had only been considered as a pawn for a rise of power, nothing more. At the same time, he also felt a deep elation that Rukia had stood up for them, for their bond; she had not given up on them! She had taken the courage to go against the rules, to defy these people. He could imagine how difficult it must have been for her to go face these tyrants, with no-one by her side as support. And finally, he also felt a sense of exasperation towards her for having kept all this to herself, at her attempt to protect him and Byakuya. As usual, she had tried to take the entire burden on her own shoulders! He could not believe that she had so easily caved to these people's petty threats. He felt no fear at the idea of an execution hanging on his head – that idea was laughable to him. He would like to see anybody try to do that, and he felt almost annoyed at the lack of faith Rukia had in him. As for Byakuya, Ichigo was sure that the man would not be so easily detitled! He was the strongest of the existing Kuchiki clan, so would anyone dare to remove him from his leadership?

"Thank you, Sode no Shiruyaki, for having told me all this," Ichigo told the Zanpakutou. She gave a relieved smile as she saw the confident resolve in those hazel eyes. "I'll release her from that blackmail, I promise you!" he said fiercely.

"I leave it in your hands now, Ichigo…" she whispered, before fading away.

Ichigo took a deep breath before turning to the other two, his eyes flashing. "Seems that I have a wedding to crash," he said sardonically. "See you later, guys!" With that, he disappeared as he shunpooed towards the temple where the wedding was to be held.

"Kurosaki!" Uryuu groaned. "He could at least have waited for us!' he exclaimed indignantly to Chad. Flicking his wrist, Uryuu activated his Quincy bracelet, and released his Hirenkyaku technique. A translucent triangle appeared and hovered in the air.

'Climb on, we would go faster this way" he motioned Chad with his hands. Both of them quickly climbed on the triangle – it was a tight fit what with Chad bulk, but they managed to squeeze on it. The triangular plane zoomed forward, and Uryuu guided it towards the temple.

**XOXOX**

As Ichigo sped towards the temple, he felt a jubilation gripping him.

'_Rukia had tried to stop the wedding!'_ he kept repeating to himself. It could only confirm that she shared the same feelings as him, for her to have dared go against the rules like that. He felt his heart thundering in exhilaration, his eyes glowed with excitement. He felt a boost of renewed strength, wiping away the pain and uncertainty of the past two weeks. He felt he could take the world right then, he felt so _high_.

The thought how close they had been to losing each other made a cold trickle went down his back. But this was something of the past now. He would not let anything anymore come in his way.

Very soon, he arrived at his destination. He had passed by the temple a couple of times during his frequent visits to Soul Society, so he knew where to go. The temple was enclosed by high walls, but even though, Ichigo could see the majestic white marbled building erupting from within. The place, Rukia had told them, usually hosted all major religious ceremonies of Sereitei- the nobles' weddings being one of them.

The huge gates were heavily guarded, and by the emblems on most of the guards' uniforms, Ichigo could see that they were mostly from the Shotoku house. Ichigo landed a few yards away out of courtesy before calmly making his way towards the entrance. As soon as he approached, though, at least a dozen guards immediately snapped to attention and barred his way, hands on their katanas, ready to be drawn out at any time, it seemed.

"State your name please," the one who looked to be the chief of operations of the Shotoku guards snapped.

Ichigo raised his eyebrow at the obvious hostile reception. Pointedly eyeing the guards standing in fighting stance, then looking at the head guard in the eye, he replied, "I am Kurosaki Ichigo, and I am a guest of the Kuchiki family, I am here for the wedding".

"I am sorry, but all the guests on the invitees' list are in the temple already," the man said immediately. He had received direct orders from Shotoku Akira to be alert for a 'tall, orange spiky haired, brown eyed man, with a Katana as tall as himself', which goes by the name of Kurosaki Ichigo, if ever he showed up. And the scowling young man who was standing in front of him fitted the description perfectly.

Though he should not have been, knowing now what had really transpired, Ichigo was still a bit surprised by the man's statement. It was clear that he had no intention of letting Ichigo, specifically, get in the temple.

_Now I get why they had recruit two Royal Guards for the wedding ceremony only,_ he thought. Shotoku Akira must have been very sure of his emotional blackmail and the grasp he had over Rukia and had been certain that she would not try back off again from the wedding. The only day when anything _could_ eventually happen would be on the wedding day itself, the last day of hope, so as to say; thus the need of additional caution for this day, to ensure there would be no slip.

The few Kuchiki guards present looked surprised, because they recognized Ichigo and could not understand that Shotoku guard statement.

"Look, I am a close friend of the bride and the leader of the Kuchiki, Byakuya Kuchiki, and I have been invited for this wedding." Ichigo tried again, keeping his calm. _Ok, 'close' friend with Byakuya was stretching it VERY far, but still,_ he shrugged inwardly. "If you don't believe me, go and inform Kuchiki Byakuya about my presence."

One of the Kuchiki guards came forward, and murmured something to the Shotoku head guard. But the Shotoku guard just shrugged him aside, and glaring at Ichigo while still not budging from his stance, insisted, "I'm sorry, but we have strict orders not to let anymore person pass through. The wedding is already under way and we are not to disturb anybody inside."

"This is ridiculous_" started Ichigo angrily, taking a step forward, but the guard immediately signaled to his men. The next instant, Ichigo found himself encircled by at least a dozen Shotoku guards, katanas menacingly pointed towards him.

"Okay, then so be it" Ichigo sighed, and drew Zangetsu from his bindings before taking a fighting stance. "I really wanted to avoid this, but if I have no choice…." His reiatsu flared as the binding around Zangetsu snapped undone.

The guards surrounding him felt a moment of fear and uncertainty as they experienced the massive reiatsu being released. But orders were orders, and their duty was to fight for their masters with their lives, no matter what.

The few Kuchiki guards present stood still, undecided what action to take, and finally backed away. They refused to attack Ichigo, since they did not have any such orders from their own leader, but they refuse to help him as well, preferring to be neutral in this case.

**XOXOX**

_So, this is it,_ thought Rukia, as she slowly made her way towards the upraised shrine inside the temple.

Since the morning, she had willed herself to tightly lock up all her emotions. She needed to drive away all her feelings and vulnerable thoughts if she hoped to succeed going through all this emotionally intact. She had blanked her heart and mind, and automatically, robotically, gone through all the rites that were requested out of her. She had stoically gone through the process of getting dressed, being made up, and having her hair done by the couple specialists recruited for the occasion, not really caring how she looked. Politeness dictating, she had plasted the fakest smile that she had been able to muster on her face for the sake of the guests which had come to greet her at the Kuchiki mansion; though inside, Rukia felt as if her heart has frozen.

And now, finally, here she was. She stood at the steps leading up to the raised shrine, and carefully hoisted her dress up a bit to be able to mount the steps. An assistant immediately bent to her help, enabling Rukia to delicately climb the few steps forwards.

A gushing, admirative murmur went up the hall as the bride made her way gracefully up the steps. But Rukia was completely immune to it all, her mind closed and her body doing the basics automatically: _move one foot forward, then the next foot…_

Despite her numbness, though, Rukia had to agree that Uryuu had really surpassed himself with the bridal kimono. The champagne colored silk fabric had already been beautifully brocaded with gold threads, but on top of that, Uryuu had added more embellishments. The floor-reaching sleeve hems, neckline and bottom hem were now adorned with an intricate, heavily beaded borders, which glittered beautifully with every moves she made. The wide golden Obi sash which hugged her petite waist was beautifully embroidered with beads as well, and instead of the usual Tsuno Kakushi- the white wedding hood - she wore a veil of the same color and the same embroidery and embellished border as the dress. Her short raven hair had held up in a graceful updo with golden combs and pins, and the veil had been pinned on top of the hairdo, and draped gracefully around her head to fall at her back, reaching the floor and trailing besides her as she walked.

The overall effect was stunning, the champagne color of the silk enhancing her porcelain white skin and her raven hair, and making the purple of her eyes more accentuated.

The only major missing element to complete the picture of the perfect breathtaking bride was the lack of the proverbial bridal radiance on her face. Instead, her face was drawn, her eyes were bleak, lifeless, and her mouth was set in a tight line. The few people who really knew her could see that the bride was anything but happy.

She climbed up the couple of steps that lead on top on the shrine, and paused as she reached the edge. She looked at the group already waiting on the small platform. On one side, 4 Kuchiki members stood, which consisted of Mitachi, Hirashin, Chuyo and another Kuchiki lady, and Byakuya, as the leader and the one who would give her away, stood at the forefront of the group. The groom part stood on the other side, with Haruko and Shotoku Akira at the front, and Shotoku Miho and 3 other Shotoku members behind them. Haruko looked regal in the formal grey and purple colored kimono, the formal color of the Shotoku family. The priest who would be officing the wedding stood at the centre, between the two parties.

Rukia furtively shot a look towards the crowded hall. The approximately 200 guests present were seated on each side of the immense hall, the bride and the groom invitees sitting separately. As Rukia's gaze quickly scanned the 100 or so of her side of guests, she could see that all the Captains of the Gotei 13 were present, their white Captain Haori standing out. Seated right behind the captains were all the fuki-taichos; she easily spotted Renji's red pineapple ponytail. They had all been invited by Byakuya, being his colleagues at the Gotei 13. Then she saw a few more of her Shinigami friends, who all smiled encouragingly at her.

Her eyes stopped on Orihime, who gave her a small rather sad smile, but she could not see Chad nor Uryuu around, and she definitely had not spotted any spiky arrange haired head among the crowd. Not that she had been expecting _him_ to be here, but still, she felt her heart crumbling.

_But it's better this way, _she thought. She doubted whether she would have been able to go ahead with this with Ichigo present.

Chuyo motioned her to move forward, and the assistant quickly shuffled near her, getting ready to help her with her trailing kimono. But Rukia poised there, immobile. She could not move forward, and she just stared at the group in front of her, all their faces hazy.

_Move!_ She urged herself. _You can do this…you have to do this…_

As she was trying to find the willpower to move forward, she suddenly felt a blast of reiatsu…a very familiar blast of reiatsu.

She jerked her head towards the closed main doors at the far end of the huge hall, direction from which she could feel the increasing reiatsu.

_Ichigo! He is here! _Her eyes were instantly wide and alive._ What is happening?_ _Why is his reiatsu so agitated?_ She immediately felt anxious, the threats of Akira Shotoku coming to her mind.

Byakuya stiffened, recognizing the reiatsu as well. He too looked towards the main doors, a slight frown marring his brows. As the seconds ticked by, many of the Shinigami present were also turning their heads in the direction of the disturbance, mystified by the clearly increasing reiatsu, which seemed to be just outside the main doors.

Shotoku Akira's was irritated by the disruption and moved towards the priest, urgently whispering something in his ear. The priest nodded, then turned towards Rukia and beckoned her to proceed forward. But Rukia was not even looking in his direction; she was too engrossed trying to know what could be causing Ichigo's reiatsu to flare that much, as it only happened while he was fighting.

The priest, seeing that Rukia was not heeding, raised his voice. "May the bride please proceed to the altar."

Rukia ignored him, standing rooted to the spot and feeling her concern growing.

Haruko looked at Rukia, noting her uptight stance and fixed stare at the doors. He had started to sense the increasing reiatsu as well, being a bit later than the others because he was not well trained in detecting reiatsu.

By now, some commotion could be heard outside, which included distinctive metal clashes of Zampactous and some shouts. A hum of whispers ran among the guests, who had started to fidget in their seats, both due to the uproar which could be faintly heard and at the bride non-moving stance despite the couple of summons from the priest.

Akira's eyes blazed in anger; he could only guess who and what was causing the commotion outside, and he glared coldly in Rukia's direction, not liking that she was refusing to move so that they could proceed with the wedding.

Haruko frowned as he was getting impatient too, and Rukia's refusal to advance was intriguing him.

"Rukia," Byakuya's calm voice sliced through the tensed atmosphere, and he made a move towards her.

But he barely took a step in her direction, when, with a loud crash, the large entrance wooden doors bursted open, and Ichigo rocketed in the wide hall, amidst the gasps and cries of the guests.

"Ichigo!" Rukia gasped.


	8. Chapter 8

**- Finally, the last chapter :****) A short Epilogue will soon follow.**

**- A big thanks to everyone who has supported me during this story! Each single review has been a great inspiration to go on writing, and a big thanks to all those who had added this story to their favorites but who have not reviewed, lol.**

**- I've changed the usual settings for a Japanese wedding a bit for the purpose of this story, I apologize in advance for this. **

**XOXOX**

Ichigo skidded to a stop on the white marble floor, Zangetsu in hand, hazel eyes flaring. Two Shotoku guards immediately rushed in behind him, their katanas raised to strike. In a flash, Ichigo embedded Zangetsu on the floor, gripped the hilt with his right hand and braced his arm to take the sword as pivot, lithely swung his body around to ram his foot powerfully into each guard's abdomen in succession. The force of kicks propelled the two guards right out of the doors.

Almost nonchalantly, Ichigo straightened himself, raised Zangetsu back up from the floor before proceeding to make a quick survey of the hall.

He swept his eyes around, instantly taking in his surrounding. The guests were seated on each side of the huge hall, he saw, leaving a wide passage in the middle which led to a raised shrine at the far end of the huge expanse. His eyes zoomed to the shrine. He could see a champagne colored glimmering silhouette at the edge of the platform, _which could only be Rukia,_ with a veil covering the head. There was a small group of people standing more in the centre, _who would be the wedding party_, he deduced.

He also spotted the white captain Haori, white flowing scarf, and distinctive long black hair of Byakuya among the little wedding group. Despite the distance which separated them, Ichigo could almost feel the glacial, furious aura emanating from the man.

Since Rukia was still at the edge of the shrine, he felt it was safe to assume that the ceremony had not yet started. _Just on the nick of time,_ he thought, exhaling a relieved sigh.

Luckily for him, Chad and Uryuu had managed to catch up and had reached the temple just on time. The two of them had immediately taken on the numerous Shotoku guards which had been closing in on Ichigo from all sides. After a few minutes, all three of them had managed to create the opening needed without any serious injury to the guards, and the two had urged Ichigo to go ahead in the temple, while they continued to fight the increasing number of guards outside.

As it took Ichigo some mere seconds to wrap up the setting inside in the temple, he suddenly became aware of the heavy silence that had descended in the hall. His eyes skimmed the hundred of faces which had turned to look at him, most of them gawking at his dramatic entrance.

A couple seconds of shocked silence tickled by; then the hall exploded with outrageous gasps and a buzz of furious murmuring.

"What_!" Renji sprang up from his seat, looking at Ichigo, shock mingled with incomprehension clear on his face.

Toushiro gave an inner groan, while Yamamoto Genryuusai closed his eyes in resignation; this was exactly what he had feared since the beginning.

Haruko stared incredulously at the orange haired young man who had barged so noisily in the hall, whose ire was obvious even from the wide distance that separates them, power clearly oozing off the confident stature. The young Shotoku, next, drew his eyes to Rukia, scrutinizing her face and noting her almost apprehensive expression mixed with certain anguish. Slow comprehension dawned to him.

Shotoku Akira stood frozen to the spot, looking at Ichigo with contempt and fury. The other Shotoku members of the party were all whispering furiously among themselves, while Shotoku Miho looked at her husband in trepidation.

Unhurriedly, Ichigo started to advance towards the shrine.

"What's the meaning of this, Kurosaki?" Byakuya's cold, angry voice rang out loud enough for it to reach Ichigo across the wide span of the hall. He had moved down the few steps of the platform and stared icily at Ichigo, his dark eyes flashing.

Ichigo steps faltered. He warily watched the visibly furious Kuchiki, wondering how to broach the subject without getting into an altercation with him straight away.

"What's the aim of this disrespect? Why are you fighting here?" Byakuya called out.

"The guards wouldn't let me in," Ichigo replied after a short silence. _That sounds so lame,_ Ichigo realized, but it was all he could come up with on the spur of the moment.

Byakuya halted in his stride, "Not let you in? That's not possible!" His usually expressionless face held a surprised look.

A sudden clamor prevented Ichigo from replying, as several more guards rushed in the hall to immediately surround him, their katanas raised menacingly. A pair of them instantly charged at Ichigo. With a smooth single swing of Zangetsu, Ichigo charged back with a mild Getsuga Tenshou; the guards were on the grounds in an instant – disarmed and knocked out - but not seriously injured. The remaining guards had been caught in the blast and had been projected a few feet backwards, stunned by the forcefield.

_Just what is the size of the Shotoku guard force?_ Ichigo groaned inwardly. They seemed to be erupting inexhaustibly, their numbers not decreasing despite the fact that Chad and Uryuu was still fighting them outside.

"Remain at your seat, Abarai fukitaicho!" Yamamoto's low, clear voice caused Renji to immediately still in his action of moving forward from his place. "This applies to all of the Gotei 13. We do not interfere in this matter, we are here as guests of Kuchiki Byakuya, nothing more." His tone did not leave any room for argument.

Orihime was already moving and made her way towards Ichigo. She stood a few feet away, on the sidelines, ready to intervene if necessary, though she knew that none of the guards would be able to match Ichigo's force.

Byakuya was looking at the set of still conscious Shotoku guards with increasing perplexity evident on his face. "Why are you barring access to this person? He's a guest of the Kuchiki!" Byakuya turned to look at Shotoku Akira. "What's going on here?" he asked the man.

"We had the belief that this person had ill intentions towards this wedding," Akira replied coldly, pointing his chin towards Ichigo. "And we are proved to be correct. Look at how he is humiliating us, barging in, fighting and creating such a commotion during this wedding!" he spat.

"Ill intention? What_"

"It's true, I do have something to say," Ichigo interrupted Byakuya loudly, having heard Akira.

"I want to say that I object to the marriage!"

His words had the effect of a bomb, the hall exploded in another buzz of voices at this. Even from the distance, Ichigo could see Rukia's head snapping up at his words. Byakuya simply stared at him, frozen and speechless.

"How dare you!" Shotoku Akira snarled, his voice rising above the clamor of the voices. The excited murmurs died down, as the Shotoku leader glared at Ichigo in contempt and fury. "You insolent, filthy human! How could you even begin to think that you could tramper on the noble's pride like this!" he shouted angrily, advancing a few steps down from the shrine.

With hard glint in his eyes, Ichigo stared back at the man who had dared to bully Rukia, unphazed by his insults. His reiatsu flared slightly to underline his anger. "Don't all weddings have this part where one has the opportunity to raise an objection?" he drawled, taking a further step forward. "I'm taking that right to say that I'm against this marriage. Surely Soul Society doesn't hold back that right?" he asked, with sarcasm in his tone.

The still standing couple of guards dutifully hurried forward as Ichigo started to advance, but a few mores slashes from Zangetsu swiftly disarmed them, followed by some well aimed punches and kicks, and they joined their previously knocked out colleagues on the floor.

Byakuya's eyes darted between Akira and Ichigo, for once looking at a lost on how to proceed.

Akira watched as Ichigo easily defeated all his guards, but he did not seem too afflicted by the blatant downfall out of his men. In fact, he sneered at Ichigo. "Don't be so conceited, you meaningless being. You are very much mistaken if you think that we're not prepared to deal with the likes of you!" he coldly stated, before removing what looked like a square, golden medal from the fold of his kimono.

With a strange incantation, he held the thing high in front of him. There was an immediate rush of air, directly after, a vertical whirlpool-like portal was seen, from which two people emerged.

Byakuya, who still stood near the foot of the platform, widened his eyes as he looked at the two new arrivals. Rukia gasped, looking at the emblem on the Haori the men wore. Her horror increased as she realized the imminent events about to happen.

"Ichigo!" she tried to catch his attention, but to no avail._ He is avoiding looking in my direction on purpose,_ she realized, despaired.

"This person is disrupting the wedding," Shotoku Akira immediately informed the two men, pointing towards Ichigo, "he refuses to leave. Please deal with him!"

The two men instantly appeared a few feet in front of Ichigo, standing midway between him and the shrine.

Ichigo stared at them, taking in the blue Haori which covered the familiar black Shinigami kimono. "I presume that you are the Royal Guards that I heard about," he remarked.

"Yes, we are Royal Guards of the King," one of the men replied in a deep voice.

The Shinigami present, apart from the couple of them who knew about the Shotoku's recruitment of the Royal Guards, all stared open-mouthed, shocked at the these new appearances.

Although he felt a moment of uncertainty inside, Ichigo refused to let himself be impressed by the reiatsu that the two men were emitting. He eyed them unwaveringly, shoulders straight, head raised in confidence. _However strong they are, I will not back off_, he vowed. Nothing and no-one would deter him now.

The two men, in turn, studied the orange haired man who looked at them so defiantly, surprised to see how young the one for whom they have been invoked was. When they had been informed by their captain-commander that their service would be needed for the Shotoku wedding, they had been expecting something more sinister than this single young man. But he had not shown the slightest fear upon their arrival. _Either he did not know with whom he was dealing with, or he was really very confident of his strength,_ the Royal Guards thought.

They looked warningly at Ichigo, their face serious and meaning business. "Please leave the premises immediately. If you refuse, we will fight you," one of them told Ichigo.

"Sorry, but I don't intend to go away from here," Ichigo immediately retorted. "At least, not before I do what I've come here for," he said.

Both men looked slightly taken aback by his prompt refusal. "Then get ready to fight, young man!"

With that, they unsheathed their swords, their reiatsus flaring even higher as they did so.

Ichigo brought Zangetsu forward, rapidly considering his options. These people were supposed to be stronger than captains. He felt confident about taking them on, but 2 at the same time would prove to be a bit tricky. Judging by the noise he could still hear from outside, Uryuu and Chad were still very busy with the outdoor guards, so he would have to count them off.

Somewhere in the hall, Ukitake Jyuushiro and Kyoraku Shunsui glanced at the closed face of Yamamoto Genryuusai.

"Yama-jii," Shunsui started in a low voice.

"We stay out of this!" Yamamoto re-instated in a firm voice, interrupting him. "Nobody gets involved in this. Don't forget the fast rule of the Gotei 13, that of not to interfere in the nobles private matter!"

Shunsui sighed. "Jyuushiro, it seems that the boy is in this alone this time," he murmured in a low voice.

"Yes, it does seem so – for the time being. Let's see where this goes." Ukitake murmured back. "But two against one is a bit too much, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is, isn't it?" Shunsui sighed. "But we can't disobey the sou-taicho again," he whispered.

"The boy always gets all the fun," Zaraki Kempachi muttered, his face sullen.

"But, do you think Ichi-chan will manage to get out of this, Ken-chan?" Yachiru piped in, appearing from his side.

"If _I_ can beat those old farts, Kurosaki will surely be able to do so as well!" replied Kempachi.

"For sure, this will be a beautiful fight!" Yumichika murmured to Ikkakku.

On the shrine's platform, Rukia watched, horrified, as Ichigo seemed to be about to take the Royal Guards head on. She really did not fancy yelling across the hall with the current tense standpoint, but she could not as well let him take on such a dangerous fight. She urgently begin to scramble her dress up, with the intent to at least approach Ichigo close enough to try to reason with him, when a new arrival stopped her in mid-stride.

Ichigo was running his moves in his mind, when he felt a familiar reiatsu suddenly cropping up. Turning his head in surprise, he found Karin lithely gliding to a stop besides him, her Zanpakutou drawn out.

"No one messes with a Kurosaki," she declared fiercely to the two Royal Guards, as she glared at them, seizing them up at the same time. Despite the inner flicker of nervousness that she felt at their obvious power, she successfully masked it, showing only her resolve on her face and her eyes flashing angrily at the two men.

"Karin!" Ichigo's voice was low, as he looked sideways at her. "They are too strong, get-"

"I'm fighting by your side, Ichi-nii," she immediately whispered back, interrupting him. "You are not fighting alone against 2, so please save your breath. You do NOT have a say in this."

"Karin!" Ichigo rasped in exasperation.

"Ichi-nii, you must admit that you do need a hand here!" Karin flared back.

_2 kids?_ The Royal guards thought, as they studied the two bickering siblings.

"Ok, are you ready?" one of them called out.

"Yes, let's get this over quickly," Ichigo replied, resigned to let Karin fight; _at least at the beginning, until I could dispose of the one of these two_, he thought. He hoped that the any of the Shinigami present would come to her aid if needed.

"Bankai!" Ichigo's reiatsu exploded as he turned into bankai mode. He had really meant it when he said he wanted to get over this quickly. He did not want to drag this fight.

Rukia watched him helplessly from the distance, undecided what to do now that he seemed stubbornly determined to go ahead with this fight.

"Bankai!"

Ichigo jumped in surprised, looking at Karin, stupefied at her shout. _Bankai?_ "Karin! You've achieved Bankai!"

He was shocked to feel her reiatsu flared as he had never seen before. Ichigo then realized that was what she had been doing the past 3 days with Yoruichi. He felt a surge of pride as he watched her. What also surprised him her Bankai attire: it was very similar to his own; she had a black slim fitted coat with long sleeves, flared at the wrists. It seemed that they had been passed similar Zampactou as well as Bankai traits, being the offspring of Isshin.

From his seat amidst all the other captains, Kurotshuchi Mayuri watched Karin almost lecherously. "A powerful, female hybrid…she would make a wonderful specimen to study!" he murmured. The surrounding atmosphere suddenly went icy, and looking sideways, the 12th squad Captain met the cold glare of the young 10th squad Captain, who was seated besides him.

"Keep even your _thoughts_ away from her, Kurotshuchi!" Toushiro growled softly, the temperature dropping some more degrees as he looked menacingly at the queer older captain. He then turned to look back at Karin, highly impressed by her achievement.

Back to the fighting scene, the two Royal guards looked at the siblings, no longer taking them lightly as they faced the incredible level of reiatsus the two were emitting.

"I'll be your opponent," Ichigo told the taller of the two men, who seemed to be stronger. "I'm Kurosaki Ichigo, Substitute Shinigami of Karakura town," he introduced himself, taking a fighting stance.

"I'm Kenzo, Royal Guard of the King's realm," the man replied in return, pointing his Zanpakutou towards Ichigo.

Karin immediately nodded towards the second Royal Guard, "I'm Kurosaki Karin, I'll be your opponent," she said, bracing herself.

The man eyebrow raised, but he had to admit that the young girl's reiatsu was impressive. "Yokuro here, at your honor," he bowed.

The next instant, all four of them charged, Zanpakutous clashing mightily.

**XOXOX**

The first clash of the Zanpakutous made Ichigo slide backwards a bit. But he immediately went back to the offensive, swinging Zangetsu high and aiming at his opponent shoulder; Kenzo deftly blocked Zangetsu with his sword and stepped back, at the same with a flick of his wrist swung the blade towards Ichigo's throat. Ichigo instantly swung Zangetsu up to protect him from the slash, at the same time he used Kenzo's momentary open stance to kick him hard at his left side.

Kenzo, seeing the immense rapidity of the younger man, quickly changed his tactics and started attacking from different directions at lighting speed, trying to catch Ichigo off-guard. But that was without counting Ichigo's own amazing enhanced speed when he was in his Bankai form, and he very easily avoided all the incoming swings of Kenzo's Zanpakutou. Several times Kenzo got really close but Ichigo always managed to parry and sidestep in the nick of time.

_He's so fast I can barely keep up with him! _Kenzo had to grudgingly admit a while later, when Ichigo once again avoided a set of his lighting speed attack - the ability of the Royal Guard's Zampactu - and retaliated with an avalanche of high reiatsu-powered slashes of his own.

_It's high time I come up with something or this will drag longer that I need, _thought Ichigo, while attacking his opponent with another combination of slashes. The man's Zampactu ability seemed to be ultra rapid moves, which made it seem as if there was more than one sword being used; added to that, Kenzo seemed to be a master of swordsmanship. It was solely due to his own speed and use of flash steps that Ichigo has been able to avoid any direct hit till now.

Another Zanpakutous' clash ejected both of them a short distance away from each other, and seeing an opening, Ichigo immediately raised Zangetsu to aim a Getsuga Tenshoutowards Kenzo. The Royal Guard instinctively had the reflex to raise his own Zampactou to bar the attack. Though, despite managing to block the black colored potent blast on time, the Royal Guard was still projected back by the sheer force of its drive, and crashed into the opposite wall.

Ichigo jumped backwards and glided to a stop as he watched his opponent lying stunned after his crash. The fight was proving to be intricate for Ichigo, as he was trying his best to avoid doing massive destruction in the hall. The four fighters had tried to move as far as possible from the seated guests, but even so, Ichigo could barely control where he send his opponent crashing. He noted that some of the guests had moved off to the safest part of the hall, and that on top of that, Orihime was constantly erupting Rika barriers when and where needed for additional protection. At least that way, he felt reassured that no one would be harmed – it had never been his intention to hurt any of the guests, even un-intentionally.

Karin was in full combat with her opponent too. The short while Ichigo managed to anxiously watch her, she seemed to be faring quiet fabulously as well.

_I should not have been so concerned,_ he smirked to himself as he watched her opponent having quite some difficulty in blocking her high powered Hado blasts, ability which she had excelled in from Urahara intense training. Likewise, her speed was amazing in Bankai form. He watched in awe as she circled the Royal Guard at a speed barely detectable to the naked eye and at the same time charging Hado upon Hado blasts. The Royal guard, though, was living up to his status, and managed to keep up with her speed, but he could not have the slightest opening to get on the offensive.

**XOXOX**

As Ichigo stood there watching Karin, panting slightly, he heard Rukia's voice calling out to him.

"ICHIGO! Stop this now!" she shouted.

Swerving his head around, Ichigo realized that he had reached close to the shrine where the wedding party still stood, about 4 meters away. It was the closest that he had been to the shrine since he had arrived, thus, he could hear Rukia calling out to him now. Ichigo looked at her.

"Ichigo, please stop this insanity!" Rukia shouted frantically. "Don't do this! Stop the fight now!"

"Rukia…" Suddenly, her words were lost to him, his own words jamming in his throat. His eyes widened as he gave her a look over, seeing her properly for the first time at close proximity. She was almost unrecognizable in her bridal set up. He could hardly believe it was her, the fiery midget, in that stunning, beautiful, fairy like image. Despite the precarious situation, he couldn't help himself; he let his eyes pleasurably take in her appearance, from the tip of her head to the tip of her toe, literally.

Rukia's words drew to a stop as well when she saw the wide opened, blazing hazel eyes lingering over her.

Ichigo had to drag his eyes from the beautiful image she presented. _I'm right in the middle of a fight, damn it, I can't let myself be distracted like that,_ he mentally self-admonished, forcing himself to turn his head back toward his opponent.

Rukia called out to him again, "Ichigo…You are going against the rules of Soul Society by acting like that! You can't expect to win against these people! You are going to get killed!"

Her words only made him smile. "Hadn't I heard those words already once, long ago?" he drawled, looking at her again. "Rukia, you know I refuse such rules. I can and I _will_ defeat anybody from Soul Society who wants to go against me. I already did it once, in case you've forgotten."

Rukia spluttered to a stop, before quickly regaining her composure to yell back, "That was for the extreme case of saving my life from the execution, a life and death situation! Whereas now… this is ridiculous, please stop!"

"Rukia, for me, this _is_ as important as a life and death situation. _You_ mean so much to me. What happens today is something which will affect my life!"

"Ichi-go…" she could only gasp, eyes widened in shock.

In the meantime, Kenzo, having caught his breath, was back to his feet. He immediately made a move towards Ichigo, raising his Zanpakutou and ready to launch at Ichigo again. Sensing his opponent was about to charge, Ichigo immediately raised Zangetsu, cursing the bad timing. He did not need to have bothered, though.

"Don't you know it's damn rude to butt in a conversation?" Karin snapped, appearing between Kenzo and Ichigo, ferociously pointed her Zanpakutou towards the Royal Guard. "At such a crucial point, on top of that!" she added, eyes flashing fire at the man. Her reiatsu flared, showing that her intent to kill was at maximum. Kenzo hesitated despite himself, more at her words than at her threatening stance.

Her own opponent, Yokuro, had been sent crashing away for a brief instant by one of her powerful strike, but Karin saw that he was getting to his feet, too. Her brain furiously planned her next attack, because she felt that Ichigo was at a very crucial point with Rukia; that brother of hers was finally getting into the gist of thing, she would be damn if she let these stuffy Soul Society Shinigami get in the way. She was still thinking about her next move, when she felt 2 soft landings by her sides. Glancing sideways, she saw Uryuu and Chad flanking her sides, both in their respective battle stance.

"Am I glad to see you, guys!" Karin exclaimed in relief, as the three of them stood to face the Royal Guards.

Seeing that he had been given a short respite, Ichigo lowered Zangetsu to his side, turning fully to look at Rukia to continue from where they left.

"Rukia, unlike the last time, this time your opinion matters…in fact, it's of primal importance," he declared, knowing it was now or never. "Everything lies in _your_ hands now." He took a deep breath, his eyes bearing the vulnerability that he felt at that moment as he gazed into her eyes, across the short distance separating them. "I'm so in love with you," he said slowly, clearly. "I have been since long now… I know I should not have waited till now to tell you this, I'm sorry for that," he paused, as Rukia watched him, speechless. "I was too scared to admit it to you, in fear of losing you, of losing your friendship."

"Ichigo…" Rukia could only stammer, stunned at his open confession.

"I love you, Kuchiki Rukia," he said solemnly, "I can't fathom losing you. I appeal to you to reconsider this marriage. Please. You have the choice. Give us a chance."

Rukia inhaled sharply, her own eyes tremulous as they locked with the hazel eyes. A soft smile finally appeared on her face as she straightened her body from the forward crouching position she had been.

"I love you too, Ichigo," she replied simply. She could not find anything further to say.

For one minute, Ichigo stayed motionless, watching her; then his eyes flared as he savored the words, while a happy, triumphant smile broke into his face.

Raising his Zanpakutou again, he made to turn back to face the fight.

"See, that wasn't so difficult to admit, was it, Midget?" he called out flippantly to her over his shoulder.

As the words sank in Rukia's mushy mind, she bristled in indignation. "What?" she yelled back, "You baka! That should be _my_ line! It took _you_ long enough to admit it!"

"Ha. Midget!"

"Baka!"

Throwing another look at her, he called out, "By the way, Midget, you look amazingly beautiful today."

Rukia's mouth hanged open, speechless for the umpteenth time, fiery color heating her skin at the almost possessive gleam, mingled with soft admiration, in his eyes.

Ichigo suddenly became aware of the silence in the hall. Looking around, he saw the majority of the guests had their jaw wide open, clearly listening with rapt attention to the exchange between the two. Even the two Royal Guards stood still, eyebrows raised, almost amused.

Ichigo's face turned bright red. He gave an inner groan as he thought about the irony of the situation; for several long years he never had the courage to confess his feelings to Rukia, for the past 7 days he had gone through hell to try to convey what he felt for her, and now, when he did manage to do it, he had a massive audience for it. He saw Karin looking at him, a happy grin and a relieved expression on her face. Uryuu was smirking widely as well, while Chad's face beamed as he nodded at Ichigo.

"Wow, that's sooooo romantic!" Rangiku gushed, having heard the conversation despite the distance they were seated. "Taichooooo, don't you think that's very romantic?" She leaned forward to Toushiro, who was sitting right in front of her. Toushiro only grunted, while Kiyone, Isane and Nanao all readily agreed with her.

Shotoku Akira, on his side, was livid. "You shameless girl!" he lashed out furiously at Rukia, "I warned you about the consequences if you backed off, and you have not heeded to what I said!" He brushed by a gaping, shocked Haruko, to advance menacingly towards her.

"How could you dirty the Kuchiki name like this, despite what we told you?" bellowed Kuchiki Mitachi almost simultaneously, "You finally showed your true, lowly blood, haven't you?" He as well advanced towards Rukia, looking as livid as Akira at her confession, followed at heel by a furiously glowering Kuchiki Hirashin.

Rukia instinctively took a step back as the three furious men advanced in her direction, almost tripping off the platform as she was already standing close to the edge.

"Chire, Senbonzakura!" A swirl of pink petals appeared in front of Rukia protectively, creating a shield in front of her and stopping the menacingly advancing men in their tracks.

Byakuya, finally snapping off his frozen state, looked at the three men, his eyes cold and unemotional. "What did you just say?" he asked in a deceptively soft voice. "What warning and what talk did you have with Rukia, and when did that happen?"

None of the three men replied, suddenly un-nerved by the icy glare and glacial aura being directed towards them.

"Rukia?" Byakuya turned towards her, "What's the meaning of all this?"

Rukia closed her eyes and a sudden chill went through her. She bowed her head. "Nii-sama, I deeply apologize for all this," she whispered. "I wanted to stop this wedding…" she faltered, unable to look at him in the face. His silence forced her to continue, "Three days ago, during his visit at the Kuchiki Manor, I informed Shotoku-sama that I wanted to reject this proposal. You were not at the Manor at that time…"

The cold silence prolonged.

"I'm so sorry to be a disappointment, Nii-sama," she said miserably, closing her eyes, "I'm so sorry for the humiliation I've caused you."

Byakuya looked from the bent head of Rukia to the ominous faces of the two Kuchiki elders and Shotoku Akira.

"I _am_ deeply disappointed, Rukia," Byakuya finally said in a toneless voice. Rukia felt her heart shatter at that. "I'm so disappointed that you did not trust me enough to talk to me about all this," he said quietly.

Rukia was startled, not really getting what he meant.

Turning to face the groom's party, Byakuya raised his voice, talking loudly enough so that he could be heard clearly, "I, as the Kuchiki head, officially announce the cancellation of this wedding. I am deeply sorry for having such humiliation bestowed upon your esteemed family."

The bridegroom party and Haruko looked astounded at that.

Akira angrily opened his mouth, only to be interrupted by Byakuya before he could utter a word. "Had you listen to my sister's appeal three days ago, had you not threaten and tried to blackmail her instead, we would not have come to this today," Byakuya said, shooting an icy stare at the man. "Three days should have been a long enough notice to cancel the wedding. It is inconceivable and highly immoral to _force_ someone into a marriage, at least under _my_ rule, in the Kuchiki family."

"Kuchiki Byakuya, you wouldn't dare_!" Akira face was getting redder by the minute, staring in rage at the calm face of Byakuya. Even Mitachi and Hirashin started to protest vehemently.

"Be thankful that I'm not retaliating for the fact that you have dared _threaten_ my sister in my own home, Shotoku Akira," Byakuya stated coldly. "And as for _you_," he continued, turning his icy stare towards Mitachi and Hirashin, "I will deal with your insubordination to your own leader later. I do not wish to discuss our internal family affair in public."

"This is my final decision!" Byakuya finished, his tone breaching no further argument.

The hall again exploded with exclamations and whispers at this dramatic change of events. The two Royal Guards looked at Byakuya, assessing this new situation.

Ichigo could simply stare at Byakuya, jaw hanging open. He had never, even in his wildest dreams, expected the cold, arrogant Kuchiki Byakuya to take this stance. In fact, he had been expecting to have another facing with the Bankai of Senbonzakura.

Rukia was staring at Byakuya too, incredulous and shocked; she could not find any words to say.

"Quite unexpected of Byakuya, isn't it?" Rangiku whispered to Nanao.

"I always knew that he had a romantic heart!" Nanao whispered back, her cheeks pink as she watched the long haired 6th squad captain.

"Nanao-chan, I have a romantic heart as well!" Shunshui immediately piped in, having heard the conversation.

"Taicho! Don't you know it's rude to eavesdrop on one's conversation?" Nanao muttered as she glared at her captain.

Byakuya turned to the two Royal Guards. "I appeal to you to stop this fight," he requested.

But Kenzo and Yokuro had already sheathed their swords. "Our mission no longer holds if the bride's side refuses the marriage, anyway," Kenzo declared.

"You reject a proposal from the Shotoku for this…anomaly? This …lowly human?" Akira screeched, "He shouldn't have even been allowed to live! I will use all my power and see to the King personally that this human trash is executed!" he threatened vehemently.

"Shotoku, you asshole! Touch a single hair of my son and you will have ME to deal with!" a loud voice boomed out from across the hall.

Every heads in the hall turned towards this new voice. Ichigo saw Ishhin, flanked by Urahara and Yoruichi.

"Dad!" both Karin and Ichigo exclaimed.

"Isshin!" Akira recognized the man who had always been his nemesis and whom he had always loathed during the academy days, very long time ago. "You! So this is YOUR son?" he exclaimed, incensed.

"Yes! That's my son! I see that you have not changed a bit despite the long years, have you, Shotoku?" drawled Isshiin. "Still the stuck up, spoiled, arrogant aristocrat, aren't you? But I'm sure you have not forgotten the bashing that you had always suffered from my hands! So, in that memory, I'll dearly advise you to stay away from the Kurosakis!"

Akira glowered furiously, seeming totally lost for words.

"The King would not be happy at the fact that you have tried to coerce and blackmail Kuchiki Rukia into this marriage, Shotoku Akira, whatever the reasons may be," Yokuro added quietly.

Seeing the various faces which looking at him condemningly, Akira realized he was defeated. With a final indignant spluttering, he angrily walked away from the shrine, followed by his wife and the rest of the groom's party. Half of the guests, which comprised mainly from the groom's side, rose to their feet too, haughtily making their way out of the hall.

"We depart as well now," Kenzo informed. With that, the he opened a vortex with his Zampactou, and both Royal Guards disappeared within the vertical whirlpool.

"We got tired waiting for you at the other side while the Senkamon gate had been ready," Urahara said, as he, Isshin and Yoruichi came to stand besides Ichigo, "so, we thought about dropping in for a quick visit."

Haruko, who had not immediately followed his parents, looked at Rukia. "I'm deeply sorry," he said, looking genuinely regretful, "I had absolutely no knowledge about you wanting to stop the wedding. Please accept my apologies for having to go through all this because of my father."

"I'm the one who should apologize for having come to ...this," whispered Rukia, feeling guilty at having involved him in all this.

"Please don't be," Haruko smiled rather sadly. "As Byakuya-sama rightly said, it's very immoral to force someone into a marriage that she doesn't want," he said, before following the rest of the groom's party.

**XOXOX**

A silence followed as the hall got emptied by at least half, with only the invitees from Rukia's side staying over. A couple of the Kuchikis walked out, though Mitachi and Hirashin didn't dare leave the premises yet.

The priest, who, all this time had been watching the events silently, spoke up finally. "What is your intention now, young man?" he asked, looking at Ichigo. "You have fought valiantly for this young woman, here, in this sacred place, to free her from an impending forced union. According some ancient laws, you have earned the right to marry her yourself. And since everything is already set, we can proceed with the wedding straight away."

Ichigo stared at the priest, dumbfounded. "Err…Marry?" he finally stuttered, almost having to pick up his jaw from the floor.

_Marry? Me? Now? _The questions flew around his mind. _I'm too young! I'm still unemployed! I don't even have a home of my own yet! _He thought frantically, staring numbly at the priest.

"You surely did not believe that you would crash in here, trash the temple, tramper on my pride, chase the groom away, and yet expect to scoot off like _nothing_?" Byakuya hissed, the grey eyes not calm anymore as he glared down at Ichigo. He made a move towards his Zanpakutou menacingly.

"Uh uh…no…no…I didn't mean that!" Ichigo gave a nervous laugh and scratched the back of his head. He peeked at Rukia. She looked as dumbfounded as him about the turn of the events, but she carefully avoided his eyes, staring stiffly at her feet.

A slow smile broke out in Ichigo's face. _We'll deal with all the hindrances and the difficulties as they come,_ he thought. For now, he there was a beautiful bride, whom he loved deeply and for so long, waiting for him.

"Yes, I do!" he finally said loudly.

'Huh?" Karin looked at her brother, snickering, "Ichi-nii, _that_ question has not been asked yet!"

Yoruichi's eyes gleamed at Ichigo. "Suddenly very much in hurry, aren't you?" she taunted.

Isshin was beaming at Ichigo. "Yes! Finally my SON gets MARRIED!" He boomed in a loud voice, grabbing Ichigo in a bone crushing hug.

"Dad! Stop it!" Ichigo hissed, getting red in the face at his father's antics.

But the hall had erupted with loud cheers and claps at the announcement of Isshin, as the Shinigami from Gotei 13 expressed their approval as loudly as they could.

Renji walked forward towards Ichigo, smirking widely, and upon reaching him, gave him a hard slap on the back. "You better take good care of her, buddy, otherwise you'll have _me_ to deal with," he whispered threateningly in Ichigo's ear.

As the remaining guests looked at the bride, they saw that _now_ she had the proverbial radiance shining on her face. She was the picture of the perfect bride, blushing, her eyes shining, her face glowing with happiness.

Yamamoto Genryuusai gave a deep sigh. It seemed that he didn't have had much choice than to accept this union, anyway.

"This will be a wedding that would not be forgotten any time soon!" Ukitake laughed.

"Nothing else was to be expected from that Ryoka anyway!" Shunsui heartily agreed.


	9. Chapter 9

**So, my story ends here! I've really enjoyed writing this one… A final, big thanks to all the reviewers! It's amazing to receive such nice, encouraging reviews. It's a big motivation to improve.**

**I have 2 sequels already drafted, which will center on Karin / Toushiro, but it would not be for immediately (at least not before two months).**

**So, here's the epilogue!**

**XOXOX**

Propped against a sakura tree in the grand, brightly illuminated Kuchiki garden, and hidden by the low, leafy branches, Ichigo watched the mass of people happily milling around. It was already late into the night, but the party seemed far from being over.

About a hundred of people, consisting mainly of Shinigami from the Gotei 13, had gathered at the Kuchiki manor for the wedding reception. A few of the friendlier bunch of the Kuchiki members and some other nobility family friends also form part of the celebrating group.

Ichigo fidgeted with his kimono; a navy with green trimmings, brocade silk affair, which Uryuu had produced out of his bag, just like a magician would produce a rabbit out of a hat. Seeing that the colors accurately matched Rukia's 'uchikake' - the reception's kimono – Ichigo had deduced that Uryuu must have bought the fabric at the same time that they got Rukia's in Rukongai.

_And to think that I'll have to go through another such thing very soon,_ Ichigo groaned to himself, as he thought about the second wedding plus reception that they would soon be throwing in the living world. It was inconceivable that there would not be a wedding where his living friends and most importantly, Yuzu, would be able to attend. So, it had been agreed earlier between the main parties that there would be another small wedding in Karakura as soon as possible.

Ichigo felt ridiculous hiding like that during his own wedding reception, but he had little choice, if he wanted to come out of this night with his sanity intact. Spotting Rangiku from a distance, he hastily buried himself deeper in the shadow of the tree, not wanting to be found by the blond 10th squad fuki-taicho. She was one of the various reasons which had made him spent most of the past hour desperately wishing he was somewhere else.

Rangiku, along with the complicity of some others, namely Ikkaku and Yumichika, seemed to have acquired a main objective: that to get Ichigo drunk, at all cost.

"It's more fun when the groom is a bit tipsy for the wedding night!" had claimed a slightly drunk Rangiku cheerily and suggestively, while their surrounding friends had laughed raucously at Ichigo's obvious, spluttering embarrassment.

_At least_ _Rukia is not around to hear this,_ had thought a crimson faced Ichigo, wondering from where the blond girl had got such a ludicrous idea. She had got Ikkaku and Yumichika on her side, and the trio had been trying unrelentingly to corner Ichigo with the intent to get him drunk, by all devious means.

Thus, he had been running away from them ever since.

There was also Zaraki Kempachi… The bloodthirsty captain seemed to have got a renewed vigor since Ichigo's fight with the Royal Guards, and was now pursuing him with more temerity for a spar. Ichigo had run out of excuses to deter the man. Finally, he resigned himself in doing his utmost best to avoid crossing the crazed 11th squad Captain as if his life depended on it

Then, there was Isshin…His Dad did not need any reason to be idiotic. _He was naturally crazy,_ Ichigo thought, despaired. At every opportunity he would get, Isshin had been loudly, boisterously demanding immediate grandkids from Ichigo and Rukia, making Rukia blush and Ichigo wanting to bury himself in the nearest hole in embarrassment. Even Karin's severe admonishment had not been able to douse the man's enthusiasm. Ichigo wished that he was anywhere but in the presence of his Dad right now.

Finally, there was Byakuya…Strangely and horrifyingly, Ichigo has found that he has developed a chicken heartedness towards the man. It seemed that with his marriage with Rukia, his previous defiance and cockiness towards Kuchiki Byakuya had disappeared; he felt much less bold to face the cold Kuchiki now. He had been carefully avoiding to be alone in the man's company, dearly hoping that this cowering he was feeling for the man was only temporary.

All these had made that he now enjoyed the solace that the sakura tree temporarily offered him.

His mind then wandered to the brief conversation Yamamoto Genryuusai has had with him. The Sou-taicho had solemnly informed Ichigo that he was now considered, de facto, as an integrate part of the Gotei 13. His position was not properly defined yet, as he would not be forming part of any squad in the immediate time. But he would be duly remunerated as from now on. The aspect of Soul Society monetary currency against the living world currency hurdle would be seen to by Urahara, as the man was always dealing in business between the two worlds.

It had definitely been fantastic to learn that he would very soon be financially independent. This would greatly decrease the pressure to find a suitable job which would cater for both his normal human and his Shinigami status. And most importantly, it would enable him to get an apartment as soon as possible, so that he could immediately move out of the Kurosaki's residence…to start his married life.

Married life…His heart gave a leap at the thought. Two facts which had not ceased to make his heart flutter since earlier that day: First, he was _married_; second, _Rukia_ was his wife…

Thinking of her, he immediately gave an impatient, frustrated sigh. He let his eyes roamed around the garden once again, trying to locate the blue and green shimmering mass of fabric of the bride in the huge crowd. _Why is it so damn difficult to get a private talk with her when we are in Soul Society?_ he thought, scowling.

The two of them had not had a single opportunity of having a private word yet. The wedding party and guests have moved to the Kuchiki manor, for the reception, right after the wedding ceremony. Then, what with the huge crowd and everybody wanting to talk to them, it had been impossible to make any justifiable escape. He badly wanted to have even some _minutes_ alone with her, at least to assure himself that all this was real…That _they_, as a couple, were real and not a figment of his imagination.

It had been decided that the Karakuran group would leave for the living world as soon as the reception party was over, but that seemed for several more hours away, and Ichigo did not have the patience to wait that long to be able to have a private word with Rukia!

After a munitious survey, he finally spotted the distinctive blue and green bridal kimono at the far side of the garden. Rukia was conversing with Yoruichi and Soi Fon. Leaving his hiding place, he quickly made a beeline in her direction, deftly avoiding to bump into people in the fear of being retained.

As he approached her, he had to admit that Uryuu's dress work was outstanding.

And he had been right; the vibrant peacock green and blue hues of the rich golden brocaded silk definitely suited her. She looked magnificent, regal and absolutely beautiful in the reception kimono which was worn over her wedding dress. She had removed her veil, and now the high hair updo, held by the golden combs and senbons, exposed her neck, which rose swan like and which seemed to tease his already heightened senses.

He sneaked to her side. _Desperation situations ask for desperate measures,_ he thought, before interrupting the conversation.

"Rukia, there's this couple who have been wanting to meet you since a while now," he lied, without the slightest qualms. "Please excuse us, Yoruichi-san, Soi Fon…" Ignoring the devilish yellow gleam of Yoruichi, and without giving the two women the time to utter a word, he urgently ushered Rukia along.

Rukia quickly cast an apologetic smile to the two before following Ichigo.

"Who are they?" she questioned curiously. She hastened her steps, trying to match Ichigo swift, long strides, but her floor length, bulky, heavily embroidered kimono made it impossible to walk quickly. "Ichigo!" she finally protested, exasperated and giving up on trying to match his speed.

He turned to look at her. "What?" he frowned impatiently as he found her a couple of steps behind. He was intent on urgently getting them off to somewhere more private, at the same time keenly on the look out for his 'tormentors', and he could not understand why she was lagging behind.

Rukia glared at him. "Could you try to walk less fast, Baka!"

"Why can't YOU walk more quickly, Midget?"

She stopped walking, creasing her eyelids halfway to glare even more ferociously at him. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm wearing 'this'!" she growled as she pointed to kimono.

Ichigo immediately looked contrite. "Ok, I'll try to match your pace," he offered as compromise while waiting for her to resume walking. "But do try to hurry!" he urged.

"Who want to meet me?" Rukia repeated her earlier question, "and why are they such in a hurry?" She could only assumed that whoever wanted to meet her were in a hurry, seeing the urgency of Ichigo.

"Huh?" Ichigo asked absentmindedly, as they got inside the Kuchiki Manor. He quickly scanned the area. It was definitely less crowded in here; hopefully he would be able to find somewhere a bit secluded.

"Ichigo?" Rukia persisted.

Ichigo was about to reply to her, when he heard the loud voice of Isshin somewhere in the house, with Byakuya calmer tones replying. The voices were definitely coming in their direction!

Not pausing to think, Ichigo grabbed Rukia's hand and pulled her towards the closest door he could see. Unlike all the other doors, this one was not the paper sliding style; it was a conventional, solid wood, hinged door. He yanked it open – luckily for him it was unlocked- pushed Rukia inside before following her, and swiftly closed it behind them. The room was in pitch black darkness.

"The switch is right behind you," came Rukia's dry voice in the darkness.

Ichigo immediately found it, and the next instant, bright yellow light illuminated the 'room'.

"Now, maybe you can explain what are we doing in the brooms' store?" Rukia drawled, dainty eyebrow raised questioningly as she looked up at him.

Ichigo looked around to find that they were indeed in a tiny room, loaded with old fashioned, wooden handled brooms.

"Oh…" He scratched the back of his head, feeling awkward and not knowing what to say.

He suddenly realized that he was still holding her hand. But he did not release her. A short silence fell in the tiny room, as Rukia looked at him expectantly.

"Ahh…Well.…Phew, that was close, we made it," he finally said, thinking of the close escape from his Dad and Byakuya.

Rukia looked surprised at that. "Yeah, just on the nick of time," she slowly agreed, a pink hue mounting her cheeks. "But you almost messed up, didn't you? Waiting for all this time," she continued, almost haughtily.

"Huh?" Ichigo frowned. "Waiting..? What are you talking about exactly?"

"About…us? The wedding?" Rukia said, mystified. "What were _you_ talking about?"

"About avoiding my Dad and your brother just now," he specified, "but hey! You were the one who almost messed up about us, not having faith in me, giving in to that petty blackmail so easily!" he argued, indignant.

"Baka, why did you wait so long anyway?" she argued back. "I mean, why it took you so long to… c-confess?" she stuttered, suddenly shy, but trying to hide it by looking even more belligerently at him.

"How could I say anything? _You_ never gave me an indication about how you felt!"

"Shouldn't the boy be the one to take the first step?"

"That concept is so outdated! It was during stone age!" His eyes flashed indignantly at her while they were practically nose to nose. "But yeah, I forgot that you _do_ live in the Stone Age, Midget," he taunted.

"Aaahh! Baka!" She tried to lift her foot for a kick, but the tight hemline of the kimono hampered her movement.

Hazel eyes shone gleefully. "Ha! For once, the Midget can't kick!" he exclaimed triumphantly.

Her violet orbs glowered warningly at him, "I can punch!"

But Ichigo had caught hold of her second hand even before she could start to rise it, pulling her closer to him at the same time.

"Oh no, you don't," he smirked, looking into her glowering eyes.

A warm, seductive glint suddenly crept into his eyes as he stared down at the beautiful, exquisite face looking up at him. She stilled, her own violet orbs widening in response and her breathing starting to accelerate.

"This color does suit you," he said softly. He watched, almost in fascination, as a deep blush infused her cheeks.

"Ichigo…" she whispered, breathlessly.

Not being able to hold himself any longer, he swept his head down to find her lips for the kiss that he had been dearly longing for. Rukia more than willingly responded. A soft whimper escaped her as her lips parted eagerly for him, allowing him access to explore her mouth, while she set out for some exploration of her own.

Both of them were totally lost to the sense of time as they kissed hungrily, a frenzy catching hold of them as excitement mounted, and heartbeats escalated as the atmosphere frizzled with passion.

"How do we get this damn thing off?" Ichigo muttered in frustration a long while later, breathing hard and fast, fumbling and tugging at what seemed to suddenly be thousands layers of brocaded silk separating them. Rukia's beautiful wedding kimono now seemed a hideous barrier between them.

"Do you think it's a good idea…with Nii-sama anywhere around?" croaked Rukia, her breathing as hectic as his.

That immediately had a douching effect on Ichigo. The image of them being walked in by Byakuya in such a compromising situation floated in his mind. He gulped. No, he definitely did want to do anything in _that_ direction with his icy _brother in law_ anywhere this close in the area.

"You are right…this will have to wait," he groaned.

Holding her tightly, he leaned his forehead against hers. He took some deep breaths, trying to calm down his clamoring senses, while closing his eyes in bliss as he inhaled her sweet, intoxicating scent.

"Love you, Mrs Kurosaki Rukia," he said softly, tenderly.

Violet eyes flared. "Love you too, Ichigo," she whispered fervently, raising her face slightly to plant a soft kiss on his lips.

**XOXOX**

Outside, in the party, Isshin was agitated.

"Karin, my poor, sweet innocent baby!" he wailed, "How could you have let yourself be corrupted by the vile of sake? You are not of age for that yet!'

Karin, who had unknowingly taken a deep, long swig at the strongly spiked punch which Rangiku and associates had sneakily prepared for Ichigo, swayed on her feet. Being the first time that she had ever had alcohol, it had only taken a full swallow and the effect had been almost immediate.

She hiccupped, and grinned happily. "Dad, _hic_…I'm 17. I got my Bankai and Ichi-nii got married today, _hic_… I want to celebrate! Party time! _hic_…"

She giggled as Isshin swung her up in his arms. "Time to leave now!" Isshin said. A _giggling_ Karin was certainly not something to be taken lightly.

"Soul Society…Royal Guards…h_ic_…" Leaning her head against Isshin arm, she looked up at the brightly starred night of Sereitei. "Hope that _I_ don't have to go through all this for _him_!" she slurred, and sighed wistfully.

Eyebrows raised, intrigued, Isshin stared down at his daughter, who looked stunning in the red and black kimono in which she had changed into for the reception.

_Oh Masaki, our children are growing up so rapidly. And they sure know how to add on to my white hair!_ he thought ruefully.

A few steps away, camouflaged by some foliage, a white set of eyebrows were set in a frown, teal eyes having a puzzled look in them.

_What did she meant by that?_ the prodigy child genius of the Gotei 13 thought.

**THE END**


End file.
